Heart of Glass
by LittleFlowerLei
Summary: old title: One little slip. Lily's life is changed when the phantom puts her under a contract.Every night she has to visit him. But the deal didn't turn out like they'd thought it would. Chapter 22 up. ChristineErikOCOC
1. Opening

**Opening**

**Disclaimer:** _I don't own phantom of the opera. But if I did, it would be great. Rated for language and sexual themes/content._

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Twas the opening night of the newly remodeled opera house, and it was packed to the brim with loyal patrons. The new managers, M. Leroux and M. Webber had taken it upon themselves to bring the opera house back to its glory, and had also tried to hunt out the opera ghost that had destroyed it to begin with. 

But they never found him.

It was said that the opera ghost had died the night of the fire, but its ghost still haunted the opera house. But they only kept that in the confines of the opera house, no patrons were told about the ghost still inhabiting the opera house.

It was raining the night that the opera populaire was opening again, rain beat against the building, creating a rhythmic, hypnotic, soothing _tap tap tap_ against the building. Every once in a while, a loud _boom_ of thunder could be heard, and a yellow rip in the sky could be seen. It was the rainy season, and that weather would probably last a long time; but that was OK.

"Over under around," Lily repeated to herself as she laced the white silk laces on her ballet slippers around her shin. She hated when she had to lace strings up her legs, but she did like the ballet. She and Meg loved the ballet, just not the long laces having to go up their legs. Lily preferred the slippers that just went to her ankles.

"Come girls!" Madam Giry called from the doorway, and almost immediately all the ballet girls got up. But Lily was still tying the laces around her left shin, trying to hurry so she wouldn't be late for the performance. It took her a minute after everyone was gone, but immediately she dashed out to follow everyone else, but unfortunately stepped on a loose lace and fell on her face.

"Shit" She muttered to herself, standing up, putting her foot on the wall and rapidly tying the laces in hopes that she wouldn't be late for the performance. Madam Giry was already cross with her for falling so much during rehearsal; in fact- she fell almost all the time. Lily was very clumsy. Quickly, she tied the laces into a bow and joined the other chorus girls out on stage in just enough time to see the curtain go up. Even though she was clumsy and perpetually late, she always seemed to make it to where she had to go in the nick of time.

As she danced to _Allegro non troppo_ Lily was praying that she wouldn't fall. It wouldn't be the first time she fell; it just would be during the performance. It was hard for her to stay on her feet for any length of time; sooner or later she knew that she'd fall, either on stage or behind the curtain.

* * *

Erik didn't enjoy watching the performances, so he never did. It was too heartbreaking to know that Christine wasn't going to be out there on stage anymore, either soaring with the music he'd given her soul, or flaunting her flawless body out on the stage as a chorus girl. He had no one to admire as she sang or danced, he didn't have his darling Christine. 

Heaving a sad sigh, Erik sat at his organ, tapping the keys, producing staccato sounds as his mind reeled with the memories of his beloved. He should have known better than to love anyone, because he could never be loved back. He was a monster, a horrible, ugly, inhuman ogre that could not be trusted to be with the women of the upper world. He would remain in his solitude, trying to learn to be lonely.

Late at night, he would dream of her. Of his Christine, in his mind he held her in his arms, in his dreams he helped her create a beautiful little girl who he would love more than words could say. He loved Christine, and without her, his life just wasn't worth living. Somehow, he hoped that he would die and become the ghost everyone thought he was. At least in death he would not feel the sting of Christine's memory.

But as he mulled the idea of suicide over in his head, he knew that he would never be able to go through with it. Suicide was the coward's way out, and he was far from a coward. If he had no one to prove that to, then he would prove it to himself. He would make himself believe he was no coward, but he was very sad and very alone.

He knew that in the opera above, it was opening night for the new opera populaire, and he knew that they were putting on the production of Swan Lake. A play he rather enjoyed, for the ending had a truly ironic twist that he never got tired of seeing. What he enjoyed most about the ironic twist was that the main character basically got screwed, and not in the sexual sense of the word.

Would it kill him to go see how the production was going? It might. But then again, being killed wasn't suicide, so it wasn't the cowards way out now is it? Nope, so that was his objective. He went to get his cape and suit, he would drop in on Swan Lake, and hope that someone saw him and wanted to kill him, he'd nothing more to live for, what difference did it make if he died or not?

* * *

Lily was proud of herself, she hadn't slipped once! Well- she did before she got to the stage but after that she didn't. She had a proud smile on her face as she twirled in unison with her group, trying to keep her mind off the audience watching them. She had terrible trouble with stage fright, and if she just kept her mind off the audience; then she would be fine. 

She spoke too soon actually, because as she span, one foot got tangled in a loose lace and wrapped her legs together, causing her to fall flat on her face, and take two or three other ballerinas with her. She growled, looked up, and saw the whole audience laughing at her.

As she scrambled back onto her feet and stood frozen in fear, she felt a blush creeping up her neck and warming her face. She glanced around for someone to tell her what to do, but Madam Giry was trying to figure out what to do. Mortified and humiliated, lily did the one thing that came to mind. She ran off the stage, her face hot with embarrassment. She only fell over the laces four times before she found a place to hide out until the moment and the humor had passed.

It was the dressing room with the elegant looking mirror that seemed to escape the damages from the opera house fire four years ago. Once she was in the room, she hid safely behind the changing curtain, and hugged her knees to her chest.

Normally she'd laugh at herself for falling, but it was in front of all the patrons, and more or less all of _Paris_. The whole city saw her fall flat on her face, and she would probably be the laughing stock of the entire capital.

* * *

Erik had seen the little red head chorus girl fall on her face, and it was the only thing that had stirred a laugh in his throat. Everyone else was howling at her too, and when the tears of laughter cleared from his eyes, he saw she was gone. He could hardly control the laughter in him, even though he wanted to. He'd _never _seen a ballet girl fall on stage before, they always made it a point to keep themselves from doing that. 

He didn't see what caused her to fall, but she fell none the less, and it was as entertaining as it could have been. Nothing could be funnier than seeing a ballet rat fall on her face, except maybe Raoul searing and writhing in pain in boiling oil. That would be the most entertaining thing Erik could ever wish for. In fact, if he made a Christmas list, that would be at the top.

But he did wonder where the little tart ran off to. Surely no one in the opera house would allow her to forget her little slip any time soon. If they did they were kinder than Erik remembered, because he surely wouldn't fail to remember it.

* * *

Lily sat in the dressing room until long after the performance, and her friend Claire had come to find her. Claire was one of the very few friends Lily had in the opera house, and she was like a big sister to her. Claire always knew the right thing to say, even if sometimes her actions were a bit off. When Lily would get into fights with the other girls, Claire came to the rescue. 

Claire had come in, her long brown hair falling over her face as she peeked into the "Haunted" dressing room and found Lily huddled up behind the changing screen. Smiling sympathetically at her friend, Claire took a seat beside her. The haunted dressing room was always cold. So that was why they knew that the opera ghost haunted it, it had been the dressing room of his love, and he could never leave it. Or so the legends said.

"Hey Lily" Claire said gently, looking over at her mortified friend. "Listen, everyone who matters forgot all about it, it happens to the best of us you know."

"Name one time," Lily snapped at her friend, her bright green eyes flickered with shame. Claire turned her gaze from her friend to think, and finally, after a short while of silence, simply smiled and said,

"You" but she was the only one on the list of ballet girls who fell down during a performance. Even the younger girls didn't, and they ranged from 14 to 6. Lily groaned and buried her face in her knees. "Listen, in time people will forget all about it. Trust me; remember that time in practice when I went out on stage and half my boob was falling out of my leotard?" Lily snickered, she did remember. That was a funny time, because Claire had no idea that her breast was exposed. Though she had a white bra on, it was still embarrassing for her. "And everyone forgot all about it eventually." Lily nodded with her friend, if something like that could be forgotten, so would her slip. "Besides that, everyone knows you can't walk and chew gum at the same time. You're uncoordinated, and people know that." Lily stood up and stuck her middle finger up at her friend. But it was OK, they flipped each other the bird all the time, it was part of their friendship.

Claire and Lily left the dressing room to go to the cast party, where everyone mocked Lily for her little slip. She just laughed off the embarrassment, something that was easily learned for the clumsy and uncoordinated.

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**I like this idea for a fic better. The two 'Deep within the Blue' stories were REALLY bad ideas. But this one I have the utmost confidence in. I thought about it all day and its better. I swear.**


	2. The trio of troublesome tramps

**The trio of troublesome tramps**

**Disclaimer:** _I don't own phantom of the opera. But if I did, it would be great. Rated for language and sexual themes/content._

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Erik couldn't help but allow his mind to wander back to the night that the chorus girl fell on her face. It was the most humorous thing that he would be able to legally watch. Ballet tarts were supposed to be graceful little swans with the singing talent of geese with a throat infection. But that one redhead was far different than the others, and that he found intriguing. But he kept away from the upper world; he had no reason to go back, there was no Christine up there waiting for him. 

Heaving a heavy sigh, he went into the room with the swan shaped bed only to stop, stare at it, and wonder why he went in there. He would end up walking around his lair a lot just to think, but he didn't know why. The more he thought of Christine, the more he wanted to take a knife to his stomach, a long walk off a short ledge, drown himself in the lake surrounding his home, or simply just hang himself.

Each idea of suicide seemed so easy; he'd killed enough people in his lifetime that killing was no longer a problem. He could easily kill himself, but somehow he kept pushing the thoughts further back, no matter how depressed he got; he just wasn't ready to do that just yet. But it would probably come to that soon; he couldn't live forever with the constant pain. Could he?

* * *

Curled within the sheets on her cot, Lily slept like the dead. Her face was buried in her pillow, and a little bit of drool came from the corner of her mouth. She was dreaming of many random things, having woken up twice during the night as she usually did. That day the ballet girls had time off; since everyone got time off the day after a performance. They had to get back to do the second performance of a musical version of _The Raven_, by Edgar Allan Poe. that night, She and Claire planned to go window shopping that day, since they had no money to really buy anything in the stores. 

In time, her humiliation had run its course and everyone had long forgotten about it. Just as Claire's breast incident, it was stored in the back of everyone's minds, only to be brought up when they were in a fight with another one of the ballet girls. Even then, they would probably overlook it as a moment in time to be forgotten.

Before long, Claire went into the dormitories to see her friend still fast asleep. It was so like Lily to sleep in as long as she could. Claire had assumed that if she was allowed to, she would sleep for days. Just laying on her cot, underneath her blankets; snuggled up to a good dream. _Especially_ if it was raining like it was the night before, because it would be so soothing that nothing could get Lily up and out of bed.

Alas, Claire had to try.

"Lily, get up, come on" Claire snapped at her, shaking her shoulders in an attempt to get her to wake up. But she remained sleeping. "Good lord, Lily! We've got to go! Come on!" But still no dice. Stomping her foot with irritation, Claire took a deep breath, and screamed; after two or three seconds, Lily jumped up and off the bed, landing in a heap on the floor.

"What the fuck was that for?!" Lily screamed at Claire as she collected herself and stood before her friend, who seemed pretty proud of herself for waking her best friend. Claire had her arms crossed, and a smug grin on her face.

"I tried to wake you up nicely. Come on and get dressed, we've got to get down to the bakery before all the good cupcakes are gone." Lily nodded and went to get her clothes to get dressed.

Now, with every protagonist there has to be an antagonist, it's the natural order of things isn't it? Well, as Lily got dressed, in came the antagonist to Lily's protagonist.

"Out of the way, freak." Celia Jacobs snapped at Lily, shoving her aside so she could get through to where her make-up waited.

Celia Jacobs was the most evil, sniveling little bitch ever to walk the face of the earth. But that aside- she also had the mental capacity of a light post. The only thing she seemed to know how to do was make Lily, Claire, and pretty much everyone else's lives a living hell. She was good friends with La Carlotta- so that right there is a sign of bad character.

She was always followed by her two cohorts, a little blond girl named Silvia Smith, who seemed to be even dumber than Celia (if that's possible), and a little brunette named Gretchen who had gossip on almost every ballet girl in the dormitories. But Lily had nothing to hide, people who live in dormitories like that rarely do.

The trio of troublesome tramps was 2/3rds blond girls with particularly large breasts, 1/3rd brunette with a pair of large breasts and a _little_ bit of a brain. Those three girls had the combined IQ of a peanut; and it was humorous how they asked stupid questions and it was agitating how they talked incessantly. Lily sometimes had to relocate to the theater seats to get any hope of sleep, and sometimes she slept in the boxes when the trio got together for an all night gibber gabber session.

Lily ignored her as she brushed her long red hair and went after her friend. But the whole time they were out in the city, Claire had to listen to Lily rant about how much of an awful person Celia was.

"Good god! I wish the phantom of the opera would come back just long enough to strike Celia dead and give us all _peace_!" Claire shook her friend's shoulders to keep her from going on about how terrible Celia was, everyone knew how terrible she was, and Lily was only enforcing the fact.

"Calm down!" Claire said to her. "I know Celia is an unpleasant person, but ranting about her isn't going to make her any better. You know as well as I do that I'd like to beat her up, but she's in with Carlotta, and _she_ can get the managers to do whatever she wants. Meaning- she could get us kicked out if we get on her bad side."

"This is a dictatorship." Lily spat on the ground. "It's not fair."

"Speak of the unholy devil." Claire murmured to her friend, causing her to turn her head and see the trio of tramps walking down the street, and her eyes to narrow.

"Move out of the way freaks." Celia hissed at them, pushing them out of the way. Silvia pushed them, but Gretchen didn't.

Narrowing her eyes, Lily opened her mouth to yell at Celia for being such an annoying nuisance, but Claire stopped her before she could do anything rash. Biting her tongue (Metaphorically) she kept her words inside, and stomped her way all the way to the clothing outlet where she and Claire were spending the afternoon looking through, but never buying anything.

* * *

Erik roamed freely through the opera house, taking in the fresh air and savoring his time alone above ground. It was a rare treat to be able to roam around without worrying if someone would see him. Too bad he couldn't act that way when everyone was around, too bad he couldn't roam in a crowed and be unnoticed by anyone walking by. 

He did wonder though, where the redhead klutz was. She was an entertaining sight last time he saw her, and he needed a good, hard laugh. But he doubted she was even there, because all of the ballet girls had gone out for the afternoon, as they were allowed out of practice for that time only.

Truthfully, he hoped to see Christine coming back, looking for him on stage. But alas, he did not, and she did not. She stayed in her mansion with Raoul, making babies and being the doting wife and mother that was expected of a countess. She was wealthy at that point, in both money and in love. While Erik was only wealthy in money, in love- he was in poverty.

But his steps fell short when he heard two voices in the auditorium. Both female and one sounding very agitated. He hid himself so he could see them, but they couldn't see him.

"Wouldn't it be great to actually buy the clothes we like?" Girl 1 asked, Girl 1 was a brunette who looked a little rough around the edges. He recognized Girl 2; it was the clumsy redhead from the other night.

"I don't know," the redhead said to the brunette. "I think it's kind of fun to get the clerks hopes up and then walk out without buying anything. I know it sounds cruel, but if you think about it- it's kind of entertaining." Her friend nodded.

Erik watched the two girls talk to each other as they strolled through the opera house, and he knew that he had to get back to his lair soon; more people were starting to come back from their day off, and he didn't want to be detected. Not yet at least.

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**Woo chapter 2! It's a little shorter than chapter 1 because that was all I wanted to put here. I hope you like it thus far :)**


	3. Heights

**Heights**

**Disclaimer:** _I don't own phantom of the opera. But if I did, it would be great. Rated for language and sexual themes/content._

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Lily pushed her hair back behind her ears as she read her Les Miserables book in the candle light in her room. It was a wonderful tale of the French revolution and a peasant girl arrested for stealing a loaf of bread. It was one of Lily's favorite books; and she could spend days reading it if she was given the chance. Lily loved to read, it was a nice escape from the ballet dormitories. 

She paused in her reading to push her reading glasses back to the bridge of her nose. She didn't used to have to wear reading glasses, but she did after her stupid cousin Gabriel tricked her when she was 13 into believing that she could stop her period if she walked around cross-eyed until it worked. Well- it didn't, and thanks to him she couldn't look at print without her reading glasses.

Les Miserables was a novel that spanned to 1,463 pages, and she was only on page 379. She still had a lot left to go in her novel, and thanks to the cast party, she might be able to get through a lot of it that night. She had hoped to anyway, since she doubted she would be allowed to pick it up again until the next cast parties. The nights after practices were full of exhaust and an inability to focus on any one task until you're asleep.

But also thanks to the cast party, she couldn't concentrate. Her mind kept wandering back to the party, and distracting her from her novel. She knew she didn't want to go, cast parties like that were the ones that young ballerinas with their whole lives ahead of them got pregnant and had to drop out of the ballet to take care of the little one on the way. Lily wouldn't subject herself to that kind of future, she was meant for something more than giving up her whole life for a man.

Claire had gone to the cast party, but that wasn't a surprise. Claire loved parties, she loved to dance, drink, eat, and enjoy herself. But Lily didn't worry about her, because Claire knew when to say when while she was drinking, and she didn't fall into the trap of horny stage hands. In fact, Claire was a mean drunk, and she would beat the hell out of the stage hand that tried to take advantage of her while she was obviously heavily intoxicated.

In fact, Claire could take her liquor better than Lily could. Lily was a lightweight, and could get drunk over four glasses of wine. She really didn't trust herself in those parties, and neither did Claire. She didn't want to have to baby-sit Lily and make sure she didn't go back to the dormitories with a baby in her belly, because then she wouldn't have any fun at all. And there was no fun in having no fun!

Finally, she got tired of trying to concentrate, she could hear the cast party in her room, and frankly it was loud. She could hear the other ballet girls giggling at the party, the stage hands outside the dormitories trying to convince good ballet girls to let go of their inhibitions and enjoy a night of freedom. So, she decided to go up to the roof to read. It was quiet up there, and she would be able to focus on her novel instead of the party that she knew she didn't want to go to. So, she put her bookmark in her book and went up to the roof.

It was quiet up there, just as she had anticipated. The only thing she didn't expect was the shadow of a man sitting in her usual spot with his leg dangling over the side, and his face resting on his arm; which rested on his knee that was arched. She watched him, and started to eavesdrop on him. But the man said nothing at all.

He looked sad, but that was just from what the bright moonlight told her. But even in his sadness- she noticed he was a very handsome man. At least- he half of his face that she saw was handsome. She didn't know about the other half. But then again- did it entirely matter what he looked like? He wasn't a character in a romance novel, he didn't have to be all handsome, have a great personality, and basically a wondrous human being. In fact, that kind of perfection got on her nerves.

"Excuse me," Her voice must have startled him, because he jumped a little and looked at her with the expression of a frightened cat. She gave him a smile before moving over to his side of the roof. She stopped in her tracks when she saw him move away from her- just like a cat in its hiding spot. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to scare you. But I don't think I've seen you before; although I guess I probably just forgot." Erik stayed away from her, until she held her hand out to him and made a hand-motion like she was calling a frightened animal. "Come on, you don't need to be afraid."

"I'm not." He snarled at her.

"Well, prove it. Come out of you're hiding place." She said in a saucy tone. Erik gave her a dirty look before ignoring her again. "What's you're name?"

"None of you're business." He hissed at her in a low tone. She was really starting to get on his nerves, and she could tell.

"Well, nice to meet you none of you're business. I'm Lily." That was when he gave her the evil eye; but she just smiled it off. "So, any particular reason you're up here and sitting in my spot?"

"_You'r_e spot?" He inquired with a sarcastic tone. He could tell that his tone had bothered her a little, but that was one of the reasons why he used it. Bothering her was fun for some odd reason. Entertaining in it's own special way. "I didn't see you're name anywhere."

"Jesus, you don't have to be such an ass you know." Lily snapped at him. "I didn't do anything to you but try and be friendly."

He glared at her before leaving her alone on the roof. Part of him was saying 'she's got a point you know. You've got to apologize' but the other part- the stubborn part that kept him from thinking clearly, was telling him 'she's wrong, you're right, just leave.' And that part he listened to.

Lily stuck out her tongue at him as he left, and then she took her spot on the ledge. That man- None of you're business- had kept her spot warm for her. She should've probably thanked him for that, but she didn't. She just opened her book and began to read once again.

* * *

It wasn't until a few days later that she heard from the cloaked man again. Somehow, her sauciness had caught his attention, and he decided he'd observe her more. To the front part of his mind- he was merely observing her activities as a scientist would observe a lab rat. But in the very back of his mind, so far back that he didn't think he was thinking it at all, he was interested in finding out about her. So he watched. 

He learned two things about her: 1. she had the language of a sailor, and 2. she was _very_ clumsy. She would trip over her own feet sometimes, walk into doors and walls, and even fall down the grand staircase in the lobby of the opera house. She had a number of bruises on her arms and legs because of her falls- but it wasn't just her fall that made her clumsy, she was obviously accident prone.

Truthfully, he didn't mean to have to speak to her again a few days after their rooftop meeting. But he did. He was stalking up in the catwalk after everyone had cleared out of the stage area and when he turned around there she was. He watched her cautiously for a moment, but noticed that her face was drained of all color.

At first he assumed it was because she'd recognized his mask, but he saw her grip on the cat walk was so tight that her knuckles turned white, and she was very low to the bottom of the catwalk. Obviously, she was terrified of heights.

"What are you doing up here?" He asked her, his voice angry. Lily looked up at him, her arms shaking and her voice quivering she was scared, and wanted to go back down. But she couldn't. She was like a deer caught in the headlights, and that was what gave him the idea that she was scared. "What? Are you afraid of heights?" She slowly nodded, and he could hear her softly whimper,

"Help me down…" so, the good part of him winning the overall argument, he nodded and went to her. He knelt down to her height, and like a jelly fish, she latched her arms around his neck and allowed him to lift her up off the floor. She held onto him like an octopus would hold onto something with it's suction cups, he could feel her hands ball up into a fist with his cape in them, and her shivering grow as he moved.

"Calm down." He instructed her. "I'm not going to drop you. But can I ask you something?"

"W-What?"

"How is it that you can go up on the roof without any problems with heights, but you can't get on the catwalk, which is obviously closer to the ground than the roof is?" He felt her shrug, and he saw her gaze move away from him.

"It's different with the roof. I mean- If I fall off the ledge at least I have the hope that I'd fall onto the steady roof. If I fall off this- It doesn't matter which way I fall. Either way I'm going to hit something very hard and very fast." It wasn't exactly the smartest answer she could have given him, but he took it none the less. He climbed down the ladder until they were on the floor, and then he let her out of his arms.

"There, now if you're so scared than don't go back up there. Next time I might not be so generous." And he was gone.

Lily watched him leave until Claire tapped her on the shoulder and asked what she was starring at. Lily blinked slowly before shaking her head, and telling Claire it was nothing.

"Hey Claire, how long have you been here?"

"'bout as long as you, why?"

"No reason." She turned to walk away from the spot where the stood, but couldn't help but let her head turn back to the direction that the masked man had run off to. "No reason at all."

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Yaaaaay did you like it?

**XD I got my Halloween costume today. I'm going as V for VENDETTA! And me and my best friend are going trick or treating! That'll be fun.**


	4. Meet the Phantom

**Meet the Phantom**

**Disclaimer:** _I don't own phantom of the opera. But if I did, it would be great. Rated for language and sexual themes/content._

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Erik did his best to stay away from her. But she made it rather difficult. No matter how much he wanted to go back up to the surface world and observe her a little further, he knew he couldn't, and he didn't. He kept himself hidden away in his lair writing operas, painting, and anything else he could think of to keep his mind where he belonged, off of the pretty, spunky redhead ballet girl. 

He slammed his fists on the table. He was doing it again, he was thinking about her while he was telling himself _not_ to think of her. He knew better, or at least he should- since he knew that dealing with another Christine on his hands wasn't something he could do. He didn't want to, and he wouldn't. He belonged in the opera house cellars, and that was where he planned to stay.

But even though he'd convinced himself to stay in the cellars, away from her; he did not convince her to stay from him. He was all she was able to think about for the days following the day that he'd helped her off the catwalk. There were times when she considered going back up there to find him, but she was too afraid of the height to do so.

So she didn't, but she did go around and find out about a man in a mask. Meg Giry was her best source, since she'd been at the opera house since before the fire. She knew everything about the man in the mask, and she was more than willing to let Lily know everything she knew.

Lily found her reading in the dormitories after everyone else had gone to enjoy what little free time they had left of the day. Lily approached her and asked simply if she knew anything about a man in a white porcline mask covering half of his face.

"I do," Meg informed her, moving so Lily could sit on her cot and listen to the tale. Lily did, and was mentally taking notes of everything Meg told her. "OK, it goes like this: Years before I was born, my mother went to a traveling fair in the city. Gypsies. They mad many oddities, such as contortionists, some guy who ate fire, a fortune teller, and far stranger things.

"Among these was the Phantom, a small child at the time. Mother says he was no older than maybe nine or ten or maybe he was younger- I forget sometimes. Well either way, he was in a cage, with a potato sack over his face. His master beat him and flaunted his face; and that night that my mother went, the phantom just lost his mind.

"He took a rope that was in his cage, and strangled the man to death. My mother saved him from being put to death by an angry mob, and she hid him under the opera house. He's lived there ever since, what was once his playground is now his home.

"I was kept in the dark of everything that was happening until Christine came to me years ago, and told me that she'd been visited by an angel of music. At first I thought she was just being silly, talking in riddles- it wasn't like her. But eventually I learned that it was no angel, but the phantom who had been visiting her in her dreams.

"But then- the night of the Gala and the night I learned of the Phantom from Christine- her childhood sweetheart, Raoul De Changy came and resumed flirting with her. But the phantom didn't like that one bit, because he loved Christine; and he doesn't take too well to competition. They went on and on for a year, fighting back and forth over Christine; until finally the phantom was done playing games, and decided to end it all in one night.

"That was the night of Don Juan Triumphant. Piangi was playing Don Juan up to the 'Past the point of no return' scene, after that Carlotta found he was strangled by the Phantom's Punjab. The phantom had taken the role of Don Juan in order to steal Christine away right on stage. It didn't work, and ultimately that was the straw that broke the camels back so-to-speak. He took her to his lair below the opera house after cutting loose the Chandelier and crashing it into the audience.

"He took her below to his lair- and after that I'm not sure what happened. I know that somehow- Christine and Raoul got out and resumed their lives as if nothing happened. But I'm not sure what happened to the Phantom, everyone thought he died, but if you're seeing him you're either insane or he's not dead." As Meg's story ended, Lily found herself dumbfounded and shocked. But at the same time remorseful for the Phantom, and even though he did terrible things, It sounded to her like he was only trying to hold onto someone he loved. She couldn't very well blame him for that could she? Especially after he'd helped her down off the catwalk.

For the next few months- give or take a week and a half- Lily found herself in a hypnotic state. The only thing she was able to think about was the opera house fire, the man who had caused it, and his chain of reasoning. It seemed like a logical response for someone who had been abused by gypsies, but somehow she couldn't sympathize with him just yet. Something kept her from seeing why he did the things he did, and unless she talked to him herself, she feared she would never know.

One day after practice, Lily was surprised by Claire popping up behind her, and making her jump in fear. Yes, not only was Lily clumsy with a mouth of a sailor, she was also very easy to frighten. Anyone could scare her if they come up from behind her and tap her on the shoulder. Hell- someone _in front_ of her could scare her.

"Boo!" Claire teased her friend, whose heart was racing. "Ha-ha! I love doing that."

"I hate you" Lily said angrily, but Claire knew she was joking. The two walked together and talked together, but not about anything in particular. They just chatted like the old friends they were, and Lily didn't give Claire any hints on what she was thinking.

That night, she lay in bed unable to sleep. Her mind reeling with the phantom, and wanting to meet him. It sounded absurd when she said it aloud, but she wanted to see what was so strange and hideous about the phantom. She wanted to know what Christine Daae had given up the day she ran off with Raoul.

So quietly, she rose to her feet and quietly changed into her black and white striped dress; and went to Meg's cot. Meg knew more than anyone where the Phantom was, of that Lily was more than certain.

Meg woke slowly as Lily shook her shoulder. She looked at Lily a moment before asking what she wanted.

"Show me where he lives." Lily demanded in a soft whisper. So she wouldn't wake any of the other ballet girls. "I want to see the phantom." Even in the dull Moonlight, Lily could see Meg's eyes grow wide in surprise, and her head start to shake.

"Don't be stupid" Meg whispered back to her with a scolding tone. "He'll kill you."

"I still want to see him Meg. I'm curious to see what Christine gave up."

"Curiosity killed the cat you know."

"I know." Meg heaved a soft sigh before sitting up and changing out of her nightgown and into her clothes.

"Well, I see I'm not going to change your mind. Let's hurry and get there." Lily nodded and followed Meg.

* * *

It was a long journey, but Meg led Lily to the edge of a large lake. They were obviously miles below the opera house, the walls were made of brick and there was no light anywhere. It was damp, dreary, and cold. It was there that she stopped and looked at Lily. 

"This is as far as I can go. But good luck to you." She turned to leave, but paused and turned back to Lily. "I might be sounding like my mother but—keep you're hand at the level of you're eyes." And when Lily raised her hand to her eyes, Meg nodded and left. Leaving Lily to make the rest of the journey alone.

Truthfully, it was a long, wet journey to his lair. She often wondered if she was going the right way. If she went the wrong way, she feared that she would be forever lost in the cellars of the opera house.

After an hour or two- or maybe three, she couldn't remember- she had finally seen him. He was sitting at an organ, his fingers tapping on the keys and producing a melancholy tune. She was as still as a post until he had finished his piece, and noticed the redhead ballerina standing in the lake, her eyes wide and her hand over her heart. His song had tugged at the deepest, darkest recesses of her mind and made her feel suddenly depressed. But she shrugged it off when she noticed he was looking at her.

"What are you doing here?" He bellowed, his voice echoing in the lair. She gulped and gave her reason.

"I-I came to find you." She began. "B-Because I-I wanted to-to" To-what? See what caused Christine to leave him underground and all alone? No, she didn't want to get on his bad side, especially if he could kill her. "-to thank you, for the help you gave me in the catwalk. I-I know it was a long time ago, but I still want to thank you." She saw him sneer at her and go looking for a sword to beat her with.

Quickly, she ran onto the land and stopped him before he was able to get a sword.

"W-Wait!"

"Wait for what?" He snapped. "I don't _need_ thanked Miss Lily, and most of all I don't want to be. You shouldn't have come down here, Get out now before I have to drag you're lifeless carcass back up." But Lily stood her ground, even though she was terrified of him killing her, she wouldn't budge, she refused to back down from him. He was not to be feared, even if everyone else feared him. "What are you waiting for? Get going! Get back up to the surface and tell everyone that I'm _not_ dead. Send armies of you're little policemen down here to arrest me, right now I don't give a fuck what happens to me!" But still, she didn't move. "Get going!" She shook her head.

"No"

"No? What the hell do you mean _no_?"

"I'm not going to tell anyone you're here, nor am I going to turn around and go back so soon." She paused, and then started walking to him. "Do you really think I'm going to turn in someone who—" He watched her fall over her skirt and hit the floor. Sighing, he supposed he should have seen that coming.


	5. Enslaved

**Enslaved**

**Disclaimer:** _I don't own phantom of the opera. But if I did, it would be great. Rated for language and sexual themes/content._

* * *

When Lily woke, she found herself in a silk-lined swan bed. Her head throbbed in the front where she hit the stair step, and she wouldn't be surprised if a bruise came in within the next few hours- give or take a day. Her head hurt so bad that it took a few minutes for her to realize that she didn't know where she was. A moment of panic swept over her as she swung her legs over the side of the bed and dashed to the arch, to see she was alone. 

She wanted to try and think reasonably. To think about what had happened and decipher what to do with logic; but she was swimming in a mixture of fear and anxiety. Most of all- she was questioning why he hadn't killed her while she was out cold.

After a moment, she slowly made her way down the staircase; taking extra precautions not to fall or step on her dress. She watched her feet as she walked down the stairs, making sure not to fall over them and hit the floor again. When she got to the bottom step and lifted her head, she saw the Phantom sitting at his organ, tapping the keys as if he didn't know what they did. But he did know, he just didn't know what he wanted to do with the keys exactly.

Lily opened her mouth to say something, but no voice came out. She didn't know exactly what she wanted to say, so she just closed her mouth again. She gulped before moving forward again, but when she got closer to him, he stopped playing and looked at her. His face had an irritated expression painted on it, it caused her to stop in her tracks, put her hands behind her back and watch him cautiously.

"You should never have come down here." He spat at her.

"Tell me why not." She asked for her rebuttal; she sounded almost rude, but she really wanted to know.

"You could have gotten yourself killed, and then I would have to find a way to explain to the opera house why their clumsy little tart was dead." He snapped; Lily rolled her eyes a moment; did he always insist on being so unfriendly to his company?

Silence cultivated between them, and Lily began to feel very awkward. So, she broke the silence with her request.

"So-o" She hummed, "Since you obviously don't want me here, can you take me back? I'm probably late for practice as it is." He didn't look at her, and that she found very irritating. The very_ least_ he could do was make eye contact with her.

"Yes, you missed practice- and no, I can't take you back." He may as well have smacked her in the face with a gong. Her mind was reeling with questions on why he couldn't take her back. "You know I'm alive, and I can't risk you telling the police."

"But-! But-!" she stammered, watching his careless face as it relaxed to the new tune he was playing. "I-I can't _stay_ here!"

"You should have thought of that before coming down here." He replied harshly, with a mixture of superciliousness in his voice. He watched her begin to fume, and found it amusing how she was turning red with anger. Humorous- but he did not smile or laugh.

Before long she became so angry and flustered that she had to go back into the room with the swan-shaped bed and try to relax. But every time she almost calmed down, she remembered that she couldn't leave- and that upset her even more.

The phantom had been at his organ for three hours, trying to come up with an overture for an opera. But his muse- along with Christine- had left him the night of the fire.

He hadn't been able to write a good opera since, eventually he decided to make Lily a place to sleep; there was no way in hell he was going to be kicked out of his own bed.

It really didn't take him all that long. He wasn't going to clean her out a private room or anything special like that. No, to him she didn't deserve a special room; she was going to sleep where he told her to sleep.

"Lily!" She heard her name called from somewhere in the cave. Slowly, she got off the swan-shaped bed and went to the part of the cave she suspected he was calling from.

She went into the kitchen and saw that the phantom had put a blanket and a pillow on the kitchen floor. The blanket looked itchy, and the pillow was flat. It was far from what she was used to in the opera house dormitories, but she didn't want to admit her disgust to him.

"You sleep here." He instructed her rudely before leaving Lily to her new bedroom. She sighed, defeated, and sat down on the make-shift bed, only a few hours ago she had wanted to go meet the phantom and be his friend- but right then, all she wanted to do was go back up to the opera house. But instead, she was stuck below with an anger rational brute.

**

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Yeah, sorry this is kind of short. I had MAJOR writer's block here. It totally sucks when you see two separate ways to go with the story- both coinciding with Erik's personality- but unable to decide which to go with. So, here we go with this one. :D**


	6. Under his skin

**Under his skin**

**Disclaimer:** _I don't own phantom of the opera. But if I did, it would be great. Rated for language and sexual themes/content._

* * *

Lily stood at the foot of the bed Erik had made for her, looking at it with disgust. She knew for a fact that he had numerous comfortable blankets and pillows in the linen closet, not only that but he had a completely comfortable bed not far from the kitchen that he could have offered her. But no, he went out of his way to get on her bad side.

Snarling, she stormed out of the kitchen and into the main room where he saw Erik was painting on an easel. She watched him for a moment before he started barking orders at her as if he'd employed her instead of kidnapped her.

"Go get me that tin can over there." He pointed towards his desk, where a tin can with paint stains on the side sat. She went over to it, and saw that inside was murky paint water swimming with hundreds of different colors. She wrinkled her nose at the ugly looking water and brought it over to him. But as she approached his easel, she realized what she could do for payback.

As she approached him, she pretended to fall over her feet and drench him and his painting with murky water. The colors on his painting ran off the canvas in enough time for him to yell at Lily for being clumsy. Calling her a few, very bad names that didn't hurt her one bit. She was too proud of herself at that moment.

He had to dispose of his painting and start again thanks to her, but all she could do was smile and go off to try and occupy herself until the dreaded night of itchy sleep. It would be the best time to read her Les Miserables novel, but it was up in the dormitories with the rest of her stuff. So she had to browse through his voluminous collection of books. Obviously he was a voracious reader, but then again- what else did he have to do down there?

She took a book from the shelf titled: "The complete works of Edgar Allan Poe" and sat down on one of the chairs in the den to read. It was so hard to kill a number of hours just sitting around. Back in the opera when she was bored, she and Claire would go window shopping or go to the bakery and get free cupcakes because the baker- a 47 year old man- thought Claire was attractive.

It was a kick in the gut to get free things because you're _best friend_ was more attractive than you- or well, it would be for some people. But Lily saw it as an opportunity to get free things off of the old, lecherous men in the city. It would have been nice though to get free things because she herself was attractive. But that wasn't something she thought of often; because it was something she knew she couldn't change. Besides, who complains when they don't have to pay for cupcakes?

She heard his organ begin to play, but it wasn't any particular tune. Obviously he had no muse to write anything specifically.

* * *

Erik would agree that she was right. He no longer had any muse, and all he could think of was Christine. That thought alone would be enough to write something, but not anymore. Because now, when he pictured her beautiful face and chocolaty hair, and her glamorous figure; the image of her in Raoul's arms came to mind and that was enough to fill him with a blazing rage.

He knew that Lily was bored, but he didn't care. He wanted to prove to himself that he didn't need Christine to write something decent. But as it seemed- he needed her. He needed her image, her ignorance, and her blind faith to write music. He needed it just as much as he needed the blood that flowed through his veins to survive.

It was around midnight when he and Lily had retired to bed. She went into the kitchen and sat on the bed he'd made for her, It was itchy; and the wool was too hot. She kicked the blankets off, and ended up tossing and turning for two hours straight before deciding that she was not going to stay in the kitchen, not only was it because she couldn't sleep, but because she hadn't done anything to him to deserve to be put in the kitchen like a dog.

No, she wasn't going to take that lying down.

Quickly, she rose to her feet and walked into his room. She was quiet so not to wake him. She was too tired to argue with him at that point. Quietly, she slipped into the spot beside him, and just as she found a comfortable spot, she heard him start to yell.

"What the hell are you doing in here?!" He yelled, clamping his mask down on his face before she could even look over at him. Not that she could see him, it was too dark.

"I'm _not_ staying in the kitchen. If you don't like it then_ you_ can go sleep in the kitchen, because I'm staying here." She had such authority to her voice, as if she had any say in the matter what so ever. He was in shock for a moment, and started to argue with her even more; but she ignored him. "Like I said, there's a spot in the kitchen open."

There was no way in hell she was going to kick him out of his own bed. He wouldn't stand for it. So he moved back into his spot, and did his best to keep from having any contact with her. It took him almost two and a half hours to fall asleep, there was a heightened sense of discomfort around him, but she obviously didn't feel it because she was asleep within minutes.

After he almost fell asleep, as his contousness began to give way, he found himself silently enjoying her company. It was better to be in bed with her instead of being in bed alone. He wouldn't admit it aloud though, but it was nice to have company.

**

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Yay for Hot4Gerry! Her review helped me lotz! My god- this totally beat the other chapter 6 I had in mind XD that one became a suckish idea compaired to the idea she gave me!**


	7. The Devil's Pact

**The Devil's pact**

**Disclaimer:** _I don't own phantom of the opera. But if I did, it would be great. Rated for language and sexual themes/content._

* * *

That next morning they both slept in, which was a normal thing for the both of them. Erik because he couldn't stand the world that lay outside of his little dream world, and Lily- because she was exceptionally comfortable. Neither of them wanted to wake up, and for a wither neither of them would.

Erik though, was the first to wake up. It was probably 10:30 that next morning when he woke, and he woke to an unusual feeling of warmth. At first he didn't question it, he just basked in it. He decided that until he was awake enough to decide what it was, he wasn't going to turn it away. It beat the usual thing he woke up to: Coldness and loneliness.

When he did notice what it was, he jumped up out of the bed and nearly fell. He had his arms around Lily, her head nestled comfortably on his shoulder; and her tiny little hands lightly pressed against his chest. He starred at her sleeping form a moment before making sure he still had his mask on. He did, and that was far more comfort than anything.

He never noticed before what small hands she had. Sure, Christine had small hands too; and he assumed most women did. But Lily's- her hands were small and soft. Her fingers were thin with her small fingernails just barely grown passed the actual finger.

Erik shook his head and went into the main room. No, Lily was just like any other woman. That also meant that she was just like Christine- and that thought alone was mildly depressing.

Right then he knew that he couldn't keep her. It wasn't that he didn't have the power to keep her, because he did. He had more than enough power to keep her locked away in his lair for the rest of her life, but he knew he wouldn't be able to. Not only was it like caging a pretty little cardinal, but it was almost exactly what he tried to do with Christine. He tried to keep her from the world where she rightly belonged. That didn't work out real well, and he knew that if he did it to Lily, it would end in the same calamity.

But he didn't want her to tell. If she told someone that he wasn't dead, they would have him arrested and hung so quick he wouldn't even be able to think. He deserved to die, but he didn't want to be caught.

Heaving a sigh, he knew he had to come up with something. He'd only held her captive for a day and a half- at most- but he already wanted her to leave. But the thing was- he didn't want to go back to being alone, nor did he want her to blab about him in the cellars. She knew he was a man of flesh and blood, and if she told the police...he'd surely be a dead man.

There had to be some way for him to get rid of her without being subject to blackmail. There had to be a way, but he couldn't think of it. The only thing he was able to think of was the twinge of warmth he had when he woke to her touch. It was unnatural, something he'd never felt before. It was enough to make him go into the bedroom and retake his place before she woke. But he didn't, he had self-control.

Lily slept a long time. The silk was comforting, and for a long time there was warmth around her. It was gone though, but that wasn't enough to wake her. She dreamt of good things, of dropping water balloons on Celia and watching her melt like the witch she was, and of being incarcerated in a palace made of cupcakes.

It was a while before Lily sat up in Erik's bed, rubbed her eyes tiredly, yawned, and went to see where he was. He was in the main room, obviously slaving over breaking through the trouble he was having trying to write music. She didn't want to bother him so early in the morning- even though it was noon.

"Lily, stay here." He ordered, so, she did. She was too tired to argue with him, but then again it wouldn't take her all that long to wake up. She stood beside his organ, and watched him tap a few keys before going on with his statement. "I'd like to make a deal with you."

"Oh?"

"I'll let you go-" He started; she assumed that was the end and started cheering. But that wasn't the end. It wasn't even the beginning of the end. "-_If_ you agree to come back every night so I'll know you didn't tell anyone. If you don't come back- or if I find out you told someone about me, a disaster beyond you're imagination will occur. I _really_ don't think you want that kind of guilt on you're head." She gulped and nodded. It seemed like a minor deal at the time, so she agreed to it. Erik nodded back at her and said that if she waited a moment, he'd get her back to the opera house before her ballet practice came back from their lunch break.

She stepped into the gondola and he stepped in behind her with the long pole he was going to use to get them across the lake. All the while she was trying to come up with a reason for being gone so long. Meg probably knew why she didn't come right back, and hopefully Meg hadn't said anything to her mother about it. If she did- she didn't even want to think about it.

Erik escorted her from the gondola to the mirror. When they got to the mirror, he reminded her about the deal they'd made.

"And if you even try to tell someone about me, I'll know. I know everything that goes on in this opera house, and if you leave the opera house to tell someone- I'll _still_ know." She nodded, and told him that she understood.

He watched her walk through the mirror and walk out through the door. He went to follow her; he actually didn't entirely trust her right away. He followed her to practice, where she met up with Claire.

"Lily!" Claire shouted when she saw her friend emerging from the dressing room. Claire ran to Lily and gave her a hug before asking where she was.

"Out," Lily lied. "I _want _to tell you where, but I can't."

"W-Well why not? I'm you're best friend Lily, I can keep a secret. I won't tell anyone." Lily really did want to tell Claire that she had been held captive for a day and a half by the phantom of the opera- who wasn't dead- but she couldn't. She made a deal with the phantom that she wouldn't tell anyone.

"I can't Claire, I'm sorry." Claire nodded sadly, but she knew that Lily had her right to have secrets. So Claire just took her to the ballet room where the ballerinas were gathering for practice.

Honestly, he was surprised. He anticipated that she would blab everything to Claire right away, but she didn't. But of course, after he thought about it a little more, he wasn't all _that_ surprised. He'd threatened her pretty harshly, and he had a feeling she'd keep it a secret. But what he thought about most was having her come for company that night.

Mostly, he wanted to think about what he would have for her to do when she came. He wanted to come up with something to keep her from getting bored that time around. But after he let his mind sit on the subject a while, the more he realized what he was thinking and immediately he stopped. It wasn't about keeping her happy, it was about keeping himself from being found out.

**

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Second half of Hot4Gerry's review for chapter 5. Dudez, you'll NEVER guess what I have in store for this. It's AWSOME :DDDD**


	8. Lily never forgot what she lost

**Lily never forgot what she lost**

**Disclaimer:** _I don't own phantom of the opera. But if I did, it would be great. Rated for language and sexual themes/content._

* * *

Lily did just as she said she would. She went back to visit Erik every night since he took her back, and she didn't try to tell anyone about him. She wanted to tell Claire at least, and she begged him one night to let her. But he refused. He said that he didn't want to have to kill Claire just because Lily couldn't keep it to herself. 

For an entire month she went to see him at night, and each time he kept to himself. It seemed like just having her there kept him from wondering if she was telling anyone about him. It didn't take her long to start bringing her novel with her when she went to see him, since reading it was the only thing she had to do when she visited him.

It wasn't so much the fact that she had to visit him and walk all the way to his lair with him even when her legs hurt badly from ballet, but the fact that he ignored her when she was there. It seemed rather pointless to her, if he wanted company so bad; he could at the very least be a good host.

One morning, as she was leaving for the opera with him behind her. She told him that she might be late that night.

"I have to visit my father in the hospital tonight. I-I visited him yesterday and they said he might be getting ready to die. So he wants me there, they don't know if it'll be tonight or not, but he really wants me there. Please let me go." She hated being at his mercy, but the idea of being the cause of thousands of deaths- like Christine was- was enough to rattle her nerves. He looked so cold when he looked at her, trying to decide if he should let her go or not. He wasn't sure if he wanted her to or not, she could be lying to him to be able to sneak under his radar and get to the police. "Please…"

"I don't know." He said his voice low and dark. "How can I know this isn't a lie?" She shrugged; he was so naturally suspicious that it actually got on her nerves a little.

"Have I said anything?" She asked him. "Plus, you said that you'd know if I told someone, if I know that, why would I take the chance?" He would admit, she did have a good point. She hadn't said anything before, and he would know. So, heaving an irritated sigh; he agreed.

"Fine, you have until eleven, if you're not back here by then you'll regret it." She nodded, eleven sounded fine. Her father's medication might have kicked in by then; he'd probably be asleep around ten or so.

So, with Erik's permission to see her father, Lily went through the mirror and into the world above. She went to the dormitories, dropped her book off on her bed, and went to practice. She got there just in time to keep from being late. She knew Madam Giry would be very angry if she was late, considering how often she was late thanks to Erik's demands.

Meg hadn't said a word to her mother- or anyone else- about Lily's trip to see the phantom a month before. Lily hadn't told her about the phantom either, but the two had come to an understanding on their terms. Meg had a good guess about why Lily was leaving at night and returning in the morning; and aided Claire in her fight to keep Lily's reputation the same as it was before the whole phantom fiasco.

The girls were starting to spread rumors about where Lily was going and what she was doing. All of which involved an old man and sex. Lily had been hearing the rumors flying about her, but she was powerless to stop them. If she tried, she'd have to tell them about the phantom, his threats, and all that she'd promised to keep to herself. She couldn't do that, because she knew what Erik was capable of.

Practice was brutal. Between being scolded by Madam Giry for being a clumsy mess, she had to listen to Celia and her cronies gossip about her being 'easy'. Claire had to keep Lily from listening to them, mostly by telling her that people like Celia would get what was coming to them sooner or later in life.

"Besides" Claire shouted, loud enough for Celia and her associates to hear. "I heard that Celia Jacobs has been giving it up at every cast party since the fire!" and for her reward, Celia's face turned red with a mixture of anger and embarrassment.

"You know she's going to kick you're ass for that, don't you?" Lily asked her softly, and Claire nodded.

"I know that, and I'm ready for it. I'll kick that little bitch's ass any day of the week." She may have sounded over-confident, but Lily had faith in Claire's fighting talents. She grew up with four brothers. There is something to be learned from growing up with that many male siblings.

After practice, Lily immediately went to wash up and change into her dress so she could go visit her father. She left at around five; so she would have six hours to sit with him in the hospital.

It took her an hour to get to the hospital by cab, so that actually meant she had five hours to sit with him, but that was ample time. She got up to his hospital room in a matter of minutes upon arriving at the hospital, and ended up sitting in a chair beside his bed.

Her father was an old man who- at some point in his life- was very addicted to morphine. He used it as a painkiller in his life, but on his deathbed, he refused to use morphine anymore. If he was going to die, he wanted to die free of morphine or any drug for that matter.

Lily sat with him for hours, talking to him about the ballet, and everything except the trouble she was in with the infamous phantom. Her father, at 8:00, started talking about dying. He asked Lily to read to him from the bible, and she did. She read as many passages as he wanted her to, and eventually; he had her close the bible so he could talk to her.

"Honey, I'm going to die soon."

"No you're not daddy," She tried to convince him he was going to be fine, he had to be; she couldn't stay much longer. "You'll be fine."

"No Lily, I'm dying…" He said to her, his voice becoming very distant. But Lily kept telling him he wasn't dying. He was fine; she kept trying to tell him that. So much so that she was sobbing while trying to convince him that he was fine. But he wasn't fine, he was slowly dying. "…Listen to me Lily, I love you; and I always have. You're my baby girl, and I'm sorry I couldn't see you get married or give me grandchildren. But believe me…I wanted to…I love you…" His voice faded, his hand on her knuckles became a block of ice, his eyes closed, and he was at peace. Lily sobbed as a nurse ran in to see that he was dead.

She walked back to the opera, her body shaking from the hard sobbing she had been doing. He was dead…Her father was gone. She wasn't sure how she could face Erik with her normal expressions. She didn't think she could look at him, walk with him, or even sit in his lair with him without crying.

But she had no choice.

Lily got to the mirror at 11:10, and Erik was furious for her being late. She didn't pay any attention to him though.

"I'm not in the mood to hear you're bitching. Let's just go." She had already started walking to the gondola without him. Frankly, he paraded her through the caverns so many times that she could find her way alone. But she didn't try it, incase she was wrong.

When they got to his lair she retreated to his room to sit on the bed and cry. He didn't mind, he wasn't going to talk to her anyway. So he left her alone, and she left him alone.

He was writing in his black ledger on his desk when Lily came out. She walked over to him and stood beside his desk. He lifted his gaze from his ledger and gave it to her for a second, and then put it back in his ledger.

"My parents split up when I was eight." She admitted to him, leaning on the wall. She knew he didn't care, but she had to talk to somebody about her father. If she talked to herself it was both weird and unhealthy. "My father was in the military, and my mother worked as a waitress in a pub in London. I was nine when my mother came to me with a man I'd never seen before; said his name was David and he was my biological father." At that point in her story, Erik was actually listening. It sounded like an interesting story, if he remembered any of it or not was up to him after the story was done, but he let her talk. "I wanted my parents back together because I knew that man was not my biological father. He wouldn't hit me or anything, but he hit my mom a lot. Not only that but he drank all the time, and he smelled like bad whisky.

"One night, while my mom was at work and David had passed out on their bed from all the whisky; I poured some on the bed and lit it on fire. It burnt the whole house down with him inside." At that point, Erik was intensely interested. He never imagined she was capable of something like that; he had a newfound respect for her. "I went to see my mother a few days later, and she told me that if I didn't leave London she'd call the police and have me arrested for murder. She hated me for what I did, but I did it to protect her.

"I went to see my father about it. He kept me safe until we came to Paris, where he was put in the hospital. He lost his right arm by then and had told me that because of that he had to use morphine to lessen the pain. Initially that was what they gave him to amputate it, but he became addicted to it. He died tonight Erik," She shook her head. "I really thought he'd be OK. He told me time and time again not to hold onto a false hope like that. He was dead the day they gave him that first dose of morphine. He stopped though, because he didn't want to die obliged to anyone or anything."

"Did he die free?" She nodded a teary smile on her face.

"Free as the sky." She didn't know what possessed her to talk to Erik about her father, or what had possessed him to listen, but he did; and for the first time since the two had met- they had a conversation that didn't end in an argument.

**

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yeah, this is here. See the thing was: I was going to introduce someone here, but I couldn't. So I added Kate's past from LOST as Lily's because I liked it. I didn't like **_**Kate**_** mind you, but her past was neat. But then again, most of their pasts are. The morphine thing was from Mrs. Dubose's thing in "To Kill a Mockingbird." by Harper Lee. A good book I had to read for my english 10 class.**


	9. Wind it Up

**Wind it up**

**Disclaimer:** _I don't own phantom of the opera. But if I did, it would be great. Rated for language and sexual themes/content._

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Surprisingly enough, that little chat didn't change a thing. They still fought, just a little less. He ignored her a little less, but they still weren't even close to being friends. He still made her come down to his lair at night, but after a while sleeping in the silk bed was far better than sleeping on those cots in the dormitories.

The only downside was what the ballet girls were saying about her. They still believed that she was sneaking off at night to be with a man, but Claire did her very best to keep her friend's reputation above water.

But she had to go visit Erik at night, and she couldn't say where she was going. Breaking both promises could put everyone in danger, and she couldn't stand it if there were more dead people on account of her. So she kept it a secret, and did as Erik had told her.

Claire wanted to know what was going on with Lily, and it hurt Lily being unable to tell her the truth. But she couldn't. She couldn't give her any hints, she couldn't act it out, and she couldn't do anything that would make Claire know the secret which she held. The fear that it would tear up their friendship was always on her mind, but there was nothing she could do about it.

Lily lifted her gaze from her book and looked at Erik, who was reading on the other side of the den. It seemed like he always went out of his way to stay away from her. But not that night, she was going to force him to pay attention to her if it killed him.

"Erik" She said, it caused him to lift his head out of his book and look at her. She put her bookmark in her book and went over to him. "You're a smart man; can you help me understand what's going on? I've tried to pick up on it but I seems like they're rambling to me." He nodded and she brought him her Les Miserables book. He took it, and she sat beside him on the small sofa he was sitting on. He read the page, and then told her what had happened that far. He knew that book just as well as he knew any of his books, and that was very well.

He noticed how close she was sitting, and at first it made him uncomfortable. Her head was on his shoulder so she could see the print, and her gaze would switch between the book and him. After a while though, he ended up enjoying it with her, it brought down a warm feeling that neither would admit existed. That was the first time they were comfortable with the other, just sitting and reading.

If Erik wasn't so stubborn and still so in love with Christine, he probably would have put his hand on her waist right then, they were so comfortable that he might have been ale to pull it off. But he still loved Christine, and he was too mulish to even think about touching her waist. No, not when he was so stubborn and refused to let Christine go.

"I-I've got something to do." He said quickly, pushing the book in her lap and quickly leaving the den and the lair all together.

He went up to the roof to sit and think. He had to get away from her. He was spending too much time with her too quickly. But the again- what did he expect when he decided to keep making her come see him? Well, he certainly didn't expect what happened that night. Even though it could hardly be counted as "Something." It was more than what happened between him and Christine.

The two of them never sat down to just read together. Christine never put her head on his shoulder to see the print; he was never so close to Christine for so long that he could smell her hair. Lily's hair smelled like fresh strawberries. He liked strawberries.

Sighing, he looked out over the city. Somewhere down there Christine was living with Raoul, making little children with him and Raoul was living the life Erik wanted to live with Christine. He wanted more than anything in the world to wake up to Christine's face and be able to know that he wasn't alone anymore.

He had a hostage, which seemed like a good thing for a person who couldn't ever hope to ever love anyone. He probably shouldn't complain, considering it was the best that would ever happen to him. A hostage. Yeah _that_ was a good thing. Forcing someone to spend time with him, had he truly sunk to such a low level?

Well, even if he did, he wasn't about to go back and let her go for good. Even if it was a hostage situation, and even if he had sunk to such a low level of moral dignity, it worked for him because at least he wasn't alone anymore. He didn't think he'd be able to stand it if he was left all alone again.

Lily's visits had actually become something he looked forward to each day. At first it was because he didn't want her to tell anyone about him, but lately it's been because he had someone to talk to, even if he never did. The option was there, and that was enough. Before he never had the option of conversation, but at least when Lily came- by force- to see him, he had the option.

Heaving a sigh, he supposed he better get back before she decides to try and escape. He didn't know if she would, but he didn't want to take the chance. He started back down to his lair, careful to evade any lingering stagehands that might be around.

Lily hadn't tried to escape; he knew that because her book was sitting on the sofa in the den. But he didn't know exactly where she was. He did know though that she was still there, she wouldn't leave without her book.

He decided to just let her do what she wanted. Wherever she was in his lair, he knew that eventually she'd wander back. If she got lost- then he'd go find her if she didn't come around in a few hours.

For a short time, he had to think about what he wanted to do. He didn't want to paint, he didn't want to suffer in front of his organ again, he was finished reading, and it was too early to go to bed. Frankly, he was without any ideas.

So, with a lack of anything better to do, he decided that maybe he'd soak in the bath a while. Why the hell not? That would probably do him some good, and give him time to relax. He went down the hall a ways and opened the wooden door he had put there when he made that room. He thrust it open and just as he did- he saw Lily climbing out of the bath.

They starred at each other in dazed silence. She was starring at him, he was starring at her, and neither of them knew exactly what to do. Even closing the door and walking away seemed too complicated for him at that point.

He could see her entire front. His eyes were wide with surprise, and his face was a crimson color because that was the first time he'd seen that part of a woman's body. Lily's breasts were fairly larger than he imagined, and she had a curvy figure that most ballerinas have. His eyes trailed from her feet up to her face before he backed out of the doorway, shut the door and went to the organ.

Sitting in front of it, his eyes still wide with surprise and his face still red with embarrassment, he could feel a stupid grin tugging at his mouth. He knew how juvenile it was to grin at something like that, but he couldn't help it. He had to quickly swallow his grin as she came out of the bath- fully clothed- with her face a bright red color.

They watched each other in awkward silence again until Lily screamed.

"PERVERT!" she screamed at him, giving him a good, hard smack across the face. "Haven't you ever heard of _knocking_?!"

"You could have locked the door you know!" He yelled back at her. Simply because he wouldn't admit that he wasn't thinking. "You'd think that you'd have enough sense to do that when you know a man is here!"

"You'd think that you'd know to knock when _a woman_ is here!" She snapped back at him furiously. "Pervert! Peeping tom!"

Both of them ended up storming away from the other in anger. Later though, Erik was tired. He couldn't get that picture of her body out of his mind, and he began to wonder if Christine had a figure like Lily's. He'd never "seen" it exactly, but he assumed that it was. She was a ballet rat too at some point, except Lily's chest was just a little bigger than Christine's, which he knew because of the dresses Christine wore.

Lily looked at the pocket watch that her father had left her in his will, and saw it was pretty late. Nearly 11:30 and that was late for a ballerina who had to be up at 8 to begin dress rehearsals. So, she went into Erik's room and fetched herself one of his shirts to wear that night.

He hadn't directly told her she could do that, but she figured that he wouldn't want her sleeping next to him in her undies, although- at that point she wasn't sure what his perverted mind was cooking up.

She unbuttoned her dress from the front and let it slide down her body and become a pool around her ankles. She reached to untie her corset, which was an astonishing pain in the ass. She almost went to ask Erik for assistance. What else did she have to hide from him?

Her corset came off in a number of minutes. She put it aside and reached for the shirt that he let her borrow- except he didn't know about it. And she put it on. She put her hands behind her neck to pull her hair out of the collar, and once she did she put her leg up on the side of the bed to pull her stockings off.

Erik was unbelievably tired. Not only was he remembering her body, but that was two close encounters he'd had with a person in the same day, and he wasn't used to that. He probably would be had he and Christine had any encounters like that, but they didn't. It wasn't like that between them before Raoul came along. Although it was pretty damn close.

He walked into the bedroom and his face turned red again. Lily had her leg arched on the bed, and was pulling her stockings off her legs. Erik stood in the archway dumbly watching her pull her stockings off her legs.

"Enjoy the view?" She snapped at him as she pulled her stocking off and put it in the pile on the floor. She was going to move her clothes from the floor once she was finished undressing, and did so when she was done.

While they attempted to sleep, neither of them would let their body accidentally brush against the other person's. When they would, they would jerk away as if that person were on fire. When they did fall asleep, Lily dreamed of punishing Erik for peeping in on her, and Erik was dreaming about Lily's front side.

**

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XDD I totally just went back to my old mind of pervyness. I had to watch some Ranma ½ episodes to get back into my old brain. But this is an example of that- and Hot4Gerry's review :D YAY!**


	10. Victor Lane

**Victor Lane**

**Disclaimer:** _I don't own phantom of the opera. But if I did, it would be great. Rated for language and sexual themes/content._

* * *

Lily ran through the routine for that night's opera along with the other ballerinas. She had to swallow her need to tell Claire what Erik had done the night before, and had to suppress her yearn to hear what Claire thought of it. But if Lily knew her friend like she thought she did, Claire would have burst out laughing at Lily for her misfortunes.

But she didn't tell Claire, she kept it to herself. She had to, she wasn't sure if Erik was around to hear her.

He was though.

During the day when she wasn't with him in the cellars, he was watching her from above the stage. He kept her from telling his secret because he said he would know if she told anyone, he would- because he was watching her.

But as she danced that day, she figured out a way she could tell Claire her secret without Erik knowing. She had a notebook in the dormitories that she had once used as a diary; Erik said she couldn't "tell" anyone her secret. He didn't say anything about "Writing it down". Even though she wondered if writing it down was the same thing as telling someone. Well, it wouldn't be if she wrote it down in her old diary, left it where Claire could find it, told her there was something on her bed that she needed, Claire would go get it, and see her diary.

The only flaw with that plan was what if Erik saw it before Claire did? She would have to come up with a pretty damn good excuse for writing it down. It might make him kind of angry if he finds out she was trying to go behind his back and tell Claire.

Would it be worth the chance? Well, as she saw it there were two sides to the matter: 1. Tell Claire and save their friendship. But make Erik angry.

2. Not tell Claire and put their friendship in jeopardy but keep Erik happy.

Either way it seemed like she'd lose. Maybe it would be best to just keep silent, but if she did; then she'd not tell Claire and Erik would be happy. Damn it.

"Lily…" Oh what was she to do? "Lily…!" No matter what happened, she would never be happy. Why couldn't things turn out in her favor? "LILY!"

She snapped back into reality. Everyone had stopped dancing, everyone was looking at her, and madam Giry had her hands on her hips.

"Would you mind keeping you're head out of the clouds?" she hissed at Lily, who shyly nodded at her. Madam Giry was very cross with her since she'd made the deal with Erik, because she was almost always late for practice. Only on rare occasions she was able to make it with a few seconds to spare. But not recently.

"Sorry Madam Giry." Lily mumbled, falling back in line with the other ballet girls, and receiving a nasty look from Celia and her followers.

"Alright, now girls, we've got our show tonight and I need you all here early for some last minute dress rehearsals. Don't be late- and this means you Lily." Lily shrugged.

But it didn't come to her until after they were leaving for their break that she would have to talk to Erik about the performance. She would have to ask his permission to perform, and no doubt he would want to attend the performance to make sure she didn't go behind his back. He was so naturally mistrustful that it was almost suffocating.

So, during her break, she went down to the labyrinth to tell him she had to go perform. He wasn't waiting for her at the mirror, and at that she was not surprised. She had a feeling he wouldn't be, he had no reason to think she'd be coming early.

However, after she'd called his name, he came up behind her. Nearly scaring her out of her skin.

"Jesus!" She hissed at him, putting her hand over her heart. "Don't scare me like that!"

"Why have you come?" He snapped first and foremost. "You're not due here until sunset."

"I-I came to tell you about the performance." She said; her voice uneasy and almost frightened. "I have to perform tonight, so I might be late. I'm not sure how late."

"Fine, but you have until midnight to get here or—"

"I know, I know." She interrupted him. ""OR A DISASTER BEYOND YOUR IMAGINATION WILL OCCUR" I know how this goes." Her cheeky voice was almost annoying as he listened to her knowledge of what he was going to say. But as long as she knew what would happen, he supposed he had no reason to repeat himself.

So he allowed her to perform that night. But as she did, Erik stalked up to his box to watch. Not only was she not going to slip out from under his radar and tell, neither did he attend to see if she would fall, but he attended just to watch her perform. Somehow, he felt he should. He kept telling himself it was one of the two reasons stated; but deep down he knew he just wanted to watch.

He'd gone so long without someone to watch on stage. Christine had been his center of attention, but she was gone and wasn't coming back. He had to watch Lily, even if he had convinced himself that it was for a derivative motive.

Lily wanted to let her mind go back to wanting to find a loophole in her and Erik's agreement, but so far she couldn't find one. It was airtight by her ideals; she had no way to communicate to her friend the reason she wasn't in the dormitories at night, and why she didn't return until daylight.

But she had to concentrate on the show. She had to stay in unison with the other girls. Should she fall out of place she would look very stupid, and she didn't need to do that twice in one year. Once was enough for several years, and she didn't want Madam Giry chewing her out for not paying attention. She had enough angry people to deal with.

After the show, everyone was bustling around. She could hardly find her way through the crowd. As she tried to get through to Christine's dressing room, she felt someone grab her shoulder. She whipped around and saw before her, a tall man who had thick black hair and was wearing a very fine tailored suit. He obviously was a man of wealth, because no stage hand could afford a suit that nice.

"Excuse me, Mademoiselle." Lily stopped and looked at the man. She wanted to hurry and get to Christine's old dressing room so she wouldn't anger Erik. Her father's pocket watch said it was 10 till 12 and she really had to hurry. But the man had prevented her from doing so. "I saw you dancing, you were very beautiful."

"Thank you Monsieur." She replied nicely.

"and I would like to ask you're name."

"Lily." She hated to just give him blunt little answers, but she _really_ had to hurry.

"I'm Victor, Victor Lane. Please, may I have the honor of taking you to the cast party?" She quickly shook her head. She kind of wanted to go with him, because he was a little attractive. But he looked a little older than her.

"I-I can't go. I'd like to but I really can't. I have an appointment elsewhere that I truly cannot miss." She really did want to go with him though.

"Oh…" he said sadly, but as she turned to leave, he grabbed her shoulder again. "How about tomorrow then? I can take you out to dinner or maybe we could get some coffee?"

"Tomorrow _night_ I can't. But tomorrow during the _day_ I could." She told him. She was glad Erik's deal had that in her favor. Otherwise she wouldn't have anything from the deal in her favor.

"Tomorrow during the day it is. I'll see you then _Mon Cherie_," She nodded dumbly as he lifted her hand, kissed her knuckles, and left her. She stood in a stupid daze until she remembered she had to go visit Erik.

When she got to the mirror, he was already there. He looked agitated, she looked at her watch and she was not late. In fact, she was two minutes early.

"What?" She questioned. He shook his head.

"Nothing, let's go." He nearly barked at her, and for the first time he grabbed her wrist and tugged her along behind him. As if he didn't think she would follow willingly.

He'd seen her, her and that cheeky boy. It sickened him; do _all _the girls he meets tend to meet run off with pretty boys? It sure as hell seems like it.

"Ow! Ow! Erik let me go!" She snapped, yanking her wrist back and rubbing it. "Damn it Erik, don't pull so fucking hard. I'm coming you know." He grumbled a little and they continued on, he was contemplating on the paradox of his situation, even if Lily didn't think he was in one at all.

They'd gotten to the lair in the same amount of time as they usually do. Lily announced to him that she was going to take a bath, and rudely added,

"Do you want to watch?" And without his reply; went to take her bath.

Erik gave her a dirty look before going over to his organ. He sat down and as he lifted his hands, a tune came into his mind. It was an angry tune; and when he played it, his frustration came flowing out through the tips of his fingers. The tune was loud, hard, and angry.

Lily came out of the shower in a number of minutes and saw him playing.

"Looks like you're out of that block." She said to him, but received no recognition that he'd heard her. He did, but he hated to admit it.

She went into his room to brush her hair and go to sleep. She was very tired from her performance, and couldn't wait for her date with Victor the very next day.

**

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:D New Character! Victor Lane How will he complicate the matter? ONLY I KNOW :O **


	11. Twilight

**Twilight**

**Disclaimer:** _I don't own phantom of the opera. But if I did, it would be great. Rated for language and sexual themes/content._

* * *

She'd been having a pretty good sleep until she just randomly woke up. She did that on occasion and it bothered her. No matter how comfortable she was, she would just spontaneously wake up, but then again it wouldn't take her all that long to fall back asleep.

Although that night it took her quite a while.

When she sat up, she noticed that Erik was gone. Subconsciously she thought that he had gone out to kill Victor, but after she thought about it- he couldn't have. He didn't know about Victor, and even if he did; it was none of his business who she went out with. It wasn't like they were in love or anything.

Lily crawled out of bed and looked for him. She couldn't find him anywhere until she looked in the den, and saw him sitting in front of his fireplace (by the way, she had no idea how he managed to get the smoke out) in a purple velvet chair, and from where she stood it sounded like he was crying.

Erik had been thinking about Christine again. It hurt to love someone so much, it was almost pitiful. When it came to Christine he was weak, he'd have done anything for her. He would have risked his life for her, he took lives for her, and he risked being arrested for her. But she didn't want any of it, and she left his heart broken.

He jumped slightly when he felt a small hand on his shoulder. He turned his head and saw Lily standing beside his chair, wearing a long white shirt which only went to around her thighs. She had a small smile on her face, but not a mocking smile. It was sympathetic, but he wouldn't look at her. He didn't need her sympathy, nor did he want any of her sympathy.

"What?" He barked at her, but she didn't take her sympathy back.

"Why are you crying Erik? Are you thinking about her?" He shook his head, and tried to brush his tears away while being subtle, but it was hard. Lily sat on the arm of his char and rubbed her thumb gently against his shoulder. She was _actually_ trying to get along with him and help him.

"Of course not" He lied. But why would he admit to Lily that he was thinking about Christine? He had no reason to. She didn't try to get him to change his answer, all she did was lift her hand from his shoulders, and let her fingers stroke his head.

"Hey…do you want some tea?" He shook his head; he didn't want anything from her, no matter how good it sounded. She ignored his rejection; she went to get them both a cup of warm tea.

She got back and he was still sitting there, as if he wanted her to go against his wishes and comfort him. She knew he did, you don't live with a man for as long as she had without learning a thing or two about his behavior. He would never admit a need for help, she just had to know when he needed it and when to give it. She handed him his cup and moved him over to the sofa where the two of them could sit and talk.

At first he wouldn't say anything. He would just sit there and drink tea in the silence, but she eventually got him to say something. After she'd heard all he had to say, and after their cups were empty, she leaned against him, gently rubbing his knuckles with her thumb like her father used to do for her when she was upset.

"The pain will go away soon." She said to him quietly, listening to his choking cries and his uneasy breathing. "I promise, eventually you'll feel well again." As nice as it sounded, Erik didn't believe her.

"No I won't. I'll always be haunted by her memory. I loved her so much, how could she just…" he choked, but Lily understood what he meant. He felt her release his hand and place it over his heart. She stroked it gently as if she was trying to sooth the pain inside it.

"Shh…" She whispered to him, she could feel his heart beating, a soothing beat that wasn't as uneasy as his breathing was at the time. "…It's going to be OK Erik." She sounded so sure of it, so sure that he almost believed her. He ended up not believing her though. No matter how much he wanted to. She didn't say anything more, all she did was keep her hand over his heart, and stroke it gently.

For the first time, Erik was glad she was there. For the first time, he knew what it felt like to cry and be held by someone who cares. It was a nice feeling, to try and be comforted by someone. He was done crying alone, he had to do his best to keep himself from asking her to stay, and not go on her date with Victor.

He knew that if he asked her to stay, he'd be weak. He would never allow himself to be weak like that, and he didn't want to admit that he needed help. All that he could do was hope that Lily either forgot about her date with Victor, or that she could find it in her heart to stand Victor up and stay with him. But he could not _force_ her to do either one.

"Erik…" He heard her softly say, part of her was very tired, and was about to fall asleep right there. "…come on, let's go to bed." For a split second, he mistook what she said as a sexual invitation. But then he remembered that she wouldn't want to sleep with him like _that_. But none the less, he nodded and the two went into the bedroom after Lily put the fire in the fireplace out.

Erik crawled into his side of the bed, and instead of going directly to her side, Lily sat at his bedside, and brushed some of his black hair with her fingers.

"Can you sleep?" He shook his head, he wanted to, but he was still kind of upset. "Here, do you want me to sing you a lullaby my father used to sing to me when I was a little girl?"

"Do what you want." Erik said to her, which was code for- 'yes, please.' With a soft smile, she nodded.

"I was stained with a role in a day and on my own,  
As you walked into my life you showed what needed to be shown,  
And I always knew what was right I just didn't know that I might peel away  
And choose to see with such indifference sight …  
And I will never see the sky the same way,  
And I will learn to say good-bye to yesterday,  
And I will never cease to fly, if held down,  
And I will always reach too high,  
Cause I have seen,  
Cause I have seen …Twilight" She still stroked his hair as she sang to him. She had a decent voice, but not opera material. It was a soft, mother's voice. Something Erik needed more than ever right then.  
"Never cared, never wanted, never sought to see what flaunted, so on purpose, so in my face,  
Couldn't see beyond my own place,  
And it was so easy, now, to behold  
What I could hold, what you showed me,  
I could change whatever came, within these shallow days  
And I will never see the sky the same way,  
And I will learn to say good-bye to yesterday,  
And I will never cease to fly, if held down,  
And I will always reach too high,  
Cause I have seen,  
Cause I have seen …" He was starting to doze off, her song was so delightfully soothing. He should have had her sing to him a long time ago.  
"As the sun shines through, it pushes away and pushes ahead,  
Fills the warmth of blue, and leaves a chill instead,  
And I didn't know that I could be so blind to all that is so real,  
As illusion dies, I see there is so much to be revealed,  
And I will never see the sky the same way,  
And I will learn to say good-bye to yesterday,  
And I will never cease to fly, if held down,  
And I will always reach too high,  
Cause I have seen,  
Cause I have seen …Twilight

I was stained with a role in a day and on my own,  
As you walked into my life, you showed what needed to be shown,  
And I always knew what was right I just didn't know that I might peel away,  
And choose to see with such indifference sight …  
And I will never see the sky the same way,  
And I will learn to say good-bye to yesterday  
And I will never cease to fly if held down,  
And I will always reach too high,  
Cause I have seen,  
Cause I have seen …Twilight" By the time she was finished singing, Erik was fast asleep. With a smile, she paused to watch him a minute. He was like an innocent little child when he was asleep. You'd never known by his sleeping face that he had set fire to a magnificently voluminous building and killed thousands of people.

A small smile cracked the side of her mouth as she leaned over and placed a small kiss on his forehead before crawling into bed beside him, he needed her comfort more than anything else right then; and frankly, as she lay there, she began to think less about going to see Victor the coming morning.

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**The song is Twilight by Vanessa Carlton, and I just HAD to put this in here XD It wasn't supposed to be this long, but ah well :) Enjoy!**


	12. Too Much to Ask

**Too much to ask**

**Disclaimer:** _I don't own phantom of the opera. But if I did, it would be great. Rated for language and sexual themes/content._

* * *

Lily knew that promising to go on a date with a man and then blowing him off was bad. But when she woke up that morning, instead of being more than ready to go on her date, she was more comfortable just lying with Erik. She didn't want to come off as rude to Victor, but odds were she would never see him again anyway.

So she stayed with Erik. She got out of bed before he did, and went to make him something to eat. Maybe it was her lingering sympathy for him, but for whatever reason; she was going to make Erik a nice breakfast.

"He's probably never had a woman cook for him before." Lily mused as she walked into the kitchen and presumed to make him scrambled eggs. He remained asleep as she used the spatula to scrape the eggs off the pan and onto a plate, and then put the pan back into the fire to fry him some bacon.

Erik woke to the foreign smell of food. Slowly he woke, and as he did, his eyes stung with the tears that had been left over from the night before. His arm fell over to the empty side of the bed, and for a moment, he thought Lily had left for her date already. But then he remembered the food smell, and that meant one of two things: 1. Christine had returned to him with a need to feed him. 2. Lily was making breakfast. He wanted #1, but #2 seemed more realistic.

He rose out of bed and went into the bathroom to make sure his mask wasn't askew or anything. If it had been, she would have seen his deformity. His mask was perfectly in place, so he went to see Lily in the kitchen.

The eggs she'd made him were scrambled with bits of burnt pieces mixed in, while the bacon sitting on the plate was dry and looked hard. But Erik wasn't in the mood to pick a fight with her, so he agreed to eat the food without a fuss.

It was terrible.

Lily didn't have any because she claimed to have to meet a friend later that day, and would eat then. While she was taking the bacon out of the fire, she remembered that the date wasn't until noon anyway; so she would be able to fix Erik something to eat, sit with him a while, and still go on her date.

So Erik ate in silence. Lily didn't bring up the night before, because she knew it would upset him. He wasn't the kind of guy to talk about his feelings, she had to pry his feelings out of him, and that usually was a very hard job.

But the time did come when she had to go meet Victor for coffee. Erik took her back, he had conformed to the idea that he couldn't keep her with him forever. She couldn't always be there to comfort him when he was miserable. He let her go, do what she may with Victor Lane.

He sat in his loneliness for an hour. An hour where his thoughts wouldn't leave Christine. He found himself starring at her painted portraits for the whole hour, longing to be with her. It hurt him so bad that he knew he couldn't live like that. He couldn't live always being in pain; he'd done it for 30 years, and he didn't think he could stand another round.

As he went into the kitchen and found a dull knife, and as he went back into the bedroom and laid himself on the bed, he could only imagine Lily smiling. Not at him for comfort, but at him because she was free. She didn't have to go see him anymore, she would be able to do what she wanted, when she wanted, and with whom ever she wanted.

Before he knew it, he had lost a lot of blood, and was very dizzy. The room was spinning, and beside him sat Christine. He was hallucinating, he knew it, and so he made no conversation with Christine. No matter how real she looked, he knew she wasn't there. She was with Raoul. She was making babies with Raoul…she was…loving…R…

His eyes popped open- to his surprise. He thought he'd have been dead by then. He glanced around and he saw Lily sitting beside his bed, compressing a towel to his chest. When she saw he was awake, a big smile spread on her lips.

"Hey…" She whispered, "…look whose up."

"Why aren't I dead?" he asked softly, he felt very weak, and he hoped Lily would explain why. Although he had a pretty good assumption.

"I came back early and bandaged you up." She answered him, before lightly hitting his shoulder. "What the hell did you go and try to kill yourself for?"

"What do you care?"

"I'm not sure, but I do." Her voice faded from stern and angry, to soft and concerned. "I leave you alone for an hour and a half and you try to kill yourself, why'd you do this now Erik? I've left for ten hours for once and you didn't try and pull a stupid stunt like this."

"I-I" He winced, he was trying to sit up, but it hurt. He obviously had lost a lot of blood; Lily pushed him back down against the silk gently. "I- didn't think you'd come back."

"Why not? I'm under contract aren't I?" At that he kept silent. She was, but he kind of thought her sweet Victor would sweep her off her feet to a mansion where they could make normal looking children. That would be grounds for not returning to her captor.

So their conversation ended there. Lily just sat at Erik's bedside, wrapping and rewrapping his wounds every once in a while to keep them from getting infected. Eventually, Erik asked why she came back early.

"My date was a dud." She admitted sheepishly. "He kept talking about himself and politics. Frankly, I got bored." She watched him try to stifle an amused smile; she blinked a few times before addressing it. "Was that- a smile?" Erik denied it. "Yes it was! You smiled. I've never seen you smile."

"And you never will." He snapped at her, turning his head away. What he didn't see was her smile softly.

"I was thinking that maybe I'd stay a few days." She suddenly brought up, making his head turn back to her. "I want to be sure you're OK."

"Why do you even care?" He asked sharply, he expected a mean answer from her but instead he just saw her shrug.

"I don't know exactly. Maybe I'm paying you back for the catwalk incident." Erik rolled his eyes, she _still_ remembered that? It wasn't all that big of a deal.

Lily sat at his bedside for most of her visit that night. Trying to get him to smile, laugh, or something. But he had proved to her that no matter what, she wouldn't get him to smile. But he saw that his attempts to remain aloof from her were starting to agitate her.

"What is _wrong_ with you?" She yelled at him, standing up and putting her hands on her hips. Erik watched her out of the corner of his eye, wondering what she meant specifically. "Is it too much to ask to get a response out of you other than yelling? Every time I try and make you smile you're always feeling sorry for yourself. Every time I try to make you laugh," She shook her head. "You can't. You're too tough."

"Shut up Lily" He snapped back, but she stood her ground.

"All I'm asking is for you to smile. Once. Is that too much to ask?"

"Fine!" He yelled at her, springing up but suddenly feeling dizzy. He put his hand up to his forehead in hopes of making the room stop spinning. He heard her sigh and push him back down.

"Don't smile," She said tonelessly, as if his not smiling was painful to her somehow. "If it's forced, don't bother. I'd like to see you smile without being forced." He felt her take the rag off his chest, dip it in the bowl of ice water, and place it back on his chest. "Just sleep now. You'll be better with a few days' rest." He nodded, closing his eyes and listening to her try to sooth him into sleep.

When he woke up, he did feel a little better, but when he looked over, Lily was asleep beside him. He wasn't sure what time it was, but when he moved to look at her pocket watch that he realized- his mask was sitting on the end table.

**

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0.0 oooo! Oh no! What will happen next?**


	13. Conversation on the Roof

**Conversations on the roof**

**Disclaimer:** _I don't own phantom of the opera. But if I did, it would be great. Rated for language and sexual themes/content._

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Erik had confronted her about removing his mask when she woke up that next morning. She had to wake up a little before saying,

"Well, you made it sound so damn terrible, I wanted to see what the big deal was about. Frankly, I'm a little disappointed. I thought it was going to be all like- distorted. Instead it looked like a terrible rash." No matter how much it was nice to hear someone didn't think much of his face, Erik was still angry, and refused to talk to her.

Until he'd healed up, he didn't speak to Lily, and she didn't speak to him. It was a battle to see who could last the longest without talking, and Erik had thirty years worth of practice under his belt, so he was probably going to win.

Things were quiet until Lily went to his organ and smacked him in the shoulder.

"What the hell-?"

"Take me to the roof, you and I have some thing to discuss that we can't discuss here." Erik gave her a dirty look before playing the organ a little more.

"Who will hear us here?"

"No one, but _her_ face is really starting to creep me out. Now take me to the roof!" Erik and Lily had a long starring contest, both with glares that were a mixture of heat and ice. Growling, Erik agreed and went to get his cloak.

They got to the roof and once the door was closed, the two started in on each other.

"What did you bring me up here for?" He snapped at her unkindly, she just gave him a dirty look and started to get angry at him.

"I want to talk to you without Christine's face watching us. Erik, if you're really so hurt over losing her, why do you keep things around reminding you of her? Do you just like tormenting yourself?"

"Well forgive me if I miss her! I can't just up and forget someone I loved for so long!" He exploded at her. She sat on the edge of the roof, listening to him yell at her for expecting him to get over someone who had meant so much to him. But she didn't look like she was regretting talking to him, she looked mostly agitated.

"Listen, we're starting off on the wrong subject here. I brought you up here to ask you why you stopped talking to me! Sure, you never did much before; but you'd at least say hello to me when you came into the room, but now you don't anymore. Did I do something wrong?"

"No!" Erik yelled at her. "Just- Leave me alone."

"And that's another thing!" She started again. "You're always so _angry_! I know you loved her Erik, believe me- I know. But that's no reason to blow up over every little thing."

"You don't know _anything_ about me!" he bellowed at her. Neither of them cared if the city below could hear them, they were angry at each other. "How _could_ you? For you everything's great all the time! Even though you can't have a life at night, you still act like everything is great!"

"How else am I supposed to be Erik?" She challenged him. "If I don't try and look on the bright side, I'll end up like you! Hotheaded and impatient! Even if you don't think I know you Erik, believe me, I do."

"How could you possibly know?" Erik tested her coldly, "I'm sure you're mother never beat you since the day you were born! You are so pretty that I'm sure you're mother wasn't so horrified by you're face that she had the priest who baptized you name you! I'm almost positive that you didn't have to be locked in the attic of your house for you're whole life, you never had to ask your own mother for a present on your birthday, and you didn't have to smash a mirror because you didn't know that the monster looking back at you was your own reflection!"

"You know Erik, you're right." She snapped. "I didn't have to go through that." She leaned on the wall of the opera house, put her hands behind her head and looked at the sky. "I was an only child and I got everything I wanted—as long as I behaved. I always had to keep out of trouble, I never let myself have an experience, I never spoke unless I was spoken to, I had a controlling mother who only loved me if I did things right. If I ever did anything against her wishes or anything that got me into at least the smallest amount of trouble, she rejected me. She always overreacted at every little thing!" She shouted at him, "She never thought of anyone else, she just saw her own pain! Because of her I can't trust anyone around me! I heard her cry every night in her sleep. I was so young—she should have known better than to lean on me." She released a small breath, before stopping. "So you see Erik, you're not the only one with a mother who was selfish. But I try my hardest to forget everything, unlike you, who seems to be happy making yourself so unhappy." She stopped, and then continued. "Why do you do that Erik?"

"I keep hoping that holding onto Christine's memory will make me happy, but it doesn't, I thought that keeping you with me would make me happy, but I'm angrier than ever and I don't know why!"

"Who are you angry at Erik?" She asked him, he turned away from her. Possibly trying to keep her from seeing him upset again.

"I'm angry at everyone!"

"Are you angry at me Erik? Did I do something wrong?"

"No" he said in a low voice, he was trying to keep her from seeing him like that, he hated looking weak, especially in front of her.

"Are you angry at your mother?" He shook his head. "Are you angry at Meg?" he shook his head again. "Madam Giry?" he shook his head. "Christine? Raoul? Carlotta? Answer the question Erik! Who are you mad at? Who keeps making you so miserable? Talk to me Erik!"

"I'm angry at myself!" he roared at her. "I hate myself! I hate what I've had to go through! I hate that I always have to fight for everything I want!" She watched him fall to his knees, he was showing weakness, and no matter how much he didn't want to, he would admit that it felt good to tell her what he was so angry at. But mostly, to tell himself what he was angry at. Lily listened as he ranted about how much he hated himself. "I'm so confused, and that makes me angry! I don't think I know right from wrong anymore! I don't think I ever did…"

"Erik, listen to me." He nodded, letting her know that he was listening to her. "Being confused is never a reason to be angry. You'll spend most of your life confused, and if you get angry every time a new problem comes up, you'll be lashing out at everyone who tries to help you. You need to stop and ask yourself some questions Erik: who are you? And what do _you _want?"

"I'm the opera ghost." He spat at her. "And I want to be loved as a man, and not a ghost or an angel."

"Well, I think you could be more than just the opera Ghost. As for wanting to be loved: If you keep trying to control other women like you controlled Christine, you won't ever have love. You need to rely more on courting the woman instead of commanding her. You've got a lot to offer a woman Erik, but you've got to learn that hardly any women out there that are worth having are as dim-witted and delusional as Christine. She lived in her own little Christine world.

"If you really want to be loved for yourself—as a man, as Erik—you better start thinking about what kind of man you want to be. Do you want to be an unkind, cruel, unhappy man? Or do you want to be a good, sweet man with a kind heart? No one can tell you what to do about that Erik, and I'm sick of listening to you whine and want a pity party. I know it can be confusing, but when you decide what kind of man you want to be; you can decide on what kind of girl you need. Do you need a passive, stupid woman like Christine, or someone completely different?"

"I-I don't know…" Erik confessed miserably.

"And that's OK." He felt her slide her arms around his neck, "That's perfectly fine. Try and control that temper of yours a little; that's really all I'm asking of you." She gave him a little hug, before taking her arms away. "Alright, now that's out of the way, let's get back. We've got some redecorating to do." He nodded and took her back, trying to keep her from knowing he was crying.

When they got back, Lily went right for his paintings of Christine. She took them all, wrapped them up, and put them away. She put them in a place where they couldn't be harmed, but in a place out of the way and out of sight. She took away everything that reminded him of Christine, when she was done; she simply asked him,

"Are you hungry?"

**

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I got this idea from an episode of Avatar: The last Air bender where Zuko, Tai-lee, Mai, and Azula were all sitting around a campfire, telling sob stories and making each other feel better. I hope you liked this chapter :D**


	14. War of the Wills

**War of the Wills**

**Disclaimer:** _I don't own phantom of the opera. But if I did, it would be great. Rated for language and sexual themes/content._

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Since then, Lily donated any free time she had to helping Erik. He never asked her for help directly, and the only kind of help she was able to give him was keeping his home straightened up. Sure, she'd trip over her own feet with nearly every step, but she did keep his home clean. 

Erik did let her out during the day, as he always did. Victor had been by to see her again, and Erik could only watch as Lily- not wanting to be rude to Victor- agreed to a date. But Erik had quickly realized that she'd lied to him about Victor being boring and talking only of politics, Victor surely knew how to sweep a woman off her feet, and with each swoon Erik saw in Lily, he angrier he got. He just wasn't sure why.

He never let Lily know though that he was following her on her dates with that man. Each time she agreed to go out with him was like stab in the heart, and Lily was the only woman that had ever asked him what _he_ wanted, the only woman that had stayed by his side, even though he'd been nothing but mean to her. He had to hold onto her, she was the only true friend he ever had.

One night, when Lily was below in his lair, he was trying to come up with a way to keep her with him. Part of him was going to force her to stay against her will; but then he remembered that last time he tried something like that, it turned out to be a catastrophe.

He could hear her behind him, sweeping up the floor around the candle sticks; she'd gone and fallen over that broom more than he thought possible. The damned thing just kept getting in her way.

What could he do? How could he convince her to stay and not go out with Victor again?

"Boo!" She giggled, putting her hands over his eyes. Oh- that was something else entirely. Lily had been trying incessantly to get him to smile. Ever since that night he nearly killed himself, she has been working to get him to give her one small smile. But no luck came to her, at least- not to her face. "Guess who?"

"I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say- the only other person down here." He replied, tapping his fingers on the keys as she slid her hands off his eyes, and put them on her hips. She looked like an old woman when she did that, but Erik said nothing.

"Jesus, you're so stubborn." She mumbled under her breath, she'd have returned to her sweeping had Erik not challenged her.

"I'm not the one who keeps trying to get me to smile. You try the _stupidest_ things." She lightly smacked his back and sat next to him on the organ bench. He hated when she sat so close to him, he was not used to such close contact.

"I'm not as stubborn as you."

"Yes you are- if not more so."

"Fine, let's see who's more stubborn." She faced with a grin. "I challenge you to a war of wills. The first to admit they're uncomfortable loses, the rules are as follows: You cannot just give in without truly being uncomfortable, you have to do your best, It's anything goes, and rape doesn't count."

"Don't flatter yourself, I wouldn't rape _you_." He actually did mean that, he wouldn't rape her. But if she wanted to…then he might have to think about it. But he wouldn't rape her. "What are the stakes exactly?"

"If I win: I get to tell Claire where I've been going.

If you win: You can do whatever you want." He shrugged, if she won he would have to honor his gambling and let her tell Claire, but then again- if he won…

"If I win: You have to skip your date with Victor next week to sit down here and model for a few paintings. In any pose I ask, and however I ask." Perhaps it was because she was so sure she'd win that she agreed. She agreed to his bet, and that was when the war of the wills began.

At first, nothing happened. It was as if they took the first few days to find a weak spot to strike. No one did anything, until Saturday night.

Erik went into the kitchen to see Lily with the box of cheesecake she'd brought down for them that day, lighting candles on the table. He froze, so sure that it was a ploy. But then again, he was the stronger willed. So, stubbornly, he went into the kitchen and sat down.

It was a shameless- albeit amusing- plot. Lily flashed him smiles, and when she placed his plate of cheesecake down in front of him, she was sure he was able to get a glance down her dress, which caused a blush to creep up his neck. She slid over to her side, and ate _very_ slowly.

But the true plan didn't begin until Erik felt her foot sliding up his pant's leg. Lily saw his fork stop in mid air when he felt her foot against his leg, she didn't mind the torment she was giving him- it is anything goes war of the wills.

Erik did nothing but continue eating.

It was bothering him, there was no denying that. But he couldn't let her see his discomfort. He was not going to risk her divulging his identity to Claire, and he wanted more than anything to win- and it wasn't just his competitive personality shining through.

She watched as he got up and put his plate away, only to go back into the main room, unharmed. She narrowed her eyes at him, and pounded her fists on the table:

"If that's how you want it, well there you go."

Lily waited a while, she waited until Erik had convinced himself to calm down from the earlier strategy, and had sat down to play his organ. He sat there for a few minutes, tapping on the keys, releasing his discomfort into what he was working on. Lily walked behind him, brushing her hand along his shoulder blades, and fingering the small bit of hair hanging down on his neck from his black wig.

She sat beside him, placing her fingers on the keys. He stopped playing almost immediately, making her look at him curiously- while looking sweet.

"What?"

"Don't 'what?' me." He snapped, she shrugged and began to play- badly. It wasn't until he grabbed her hands and asked her to stop that the two felt a surge of fire through their veins. Originating from the point where their flesh touched. That made them _both_ uncomfortable at the same time, but neither one would admit it. They both jerked their hands away from the other.

"Can you teach me? We've got all this free time…" He knew it was preparation, he _knew_ it was a trick, but he couldn't help but agree.

"Place your fingers on the keys, here." He instructed, she raised her wrists, her tiny, bony wrists and placed them on the ivory keys.

He taught her to play a few simple keys, after a few moments, they stopped and Lily asked him to play the new piece he's been working on.

"It's not done yet." He told her. "I don't like to play pieces until they're done."

"Please…?" she whimpered, trying to win him over with big puppy dog eyes. He almost broke free of her glance, but he didn't. He agreed to give her a preview.

As he played the first few bars, he felt her move closer to him, and place her hand on his knee. He continued to play, despite the tightness in his body. He tried to ignore her, as if her hand slowly rising up the middle of his thigh was not bothering him at all. But before she got too high, he slammed his hand down on her bony knee and did the exact same thing to her.

They both refused to admit that they were uncomfortable, even if the other's hand was nearly brushing against their… "Special" spots.

Eventually though, they both drew their hands back when their own attempts became too ill-intentioned for them. They resumed behaving like adults, until it was time for Erik to either sink or swim in the deal.

He could have easily won if he'd walked in while Lily was bathing and offered to wash her back; he could have more than without a doubt triumphed while Lily was changing into one of his longer shirts to wear for the night. But he wouldn't win like that, he had a much better plot in mind, something that he was sure would get her to admit her discomfort and allow him to be the winner.

Lily lay down in the silk bed once she was finished changing, her head resting against the pillow, she closed her eyes. She felt Erik resume his spot beside her, and even though she expected him to do _something_ to try and win the bet, he did nothing.

Nothing- until she felt his hand snaking up her thigh, brushing along her panty line and causing a choke to climb her throat. She knew though- how to counter-act his defence.

"Oh…Victor…" She softly moaned, pretending to be asleep. She knew that had really pissed him off, because she knew that- for one reason or another- he hated Victor. The power of psychological warfare was a scary secret that most women knew, and no one needed to use that power than Lily at that moment.

But that didn't stop Erik; she felt his hand slide away from her panty-line, and crawl up the side of her body. He felt her stiffen at his touch- and he would admit that her body was a lot smaller than he remembered, and she was a lot thinner. Her fingers were clasping around the silk sheets, he could feel her starting to tighten up; it wouldn't be much longer.

No matter how many times she tried to make it seem like she was sleeping, and dreaming of Victor, Erik _knew_ she wasn't. Even if she was- that would make her very uncomfortable, and he would win. Yay him!

His fingers danced along her breast, she tried to survive it. She tried her hardest not to give into his attempts, if she gave in then she would have to do what he said, and frankly that wasn't something she wanted to do. Considering she had a general idea what position he wanted to paint her in.

But none the less, it caused her to jerk out of his grasp and fall out of the bed. Giving him a three second panty-shot.

"You PERVERT!" She screeched, wrapping her arms around her breasts. "Who the hell gave you the right to do that?"

"Same person who gave you the right to do what you did earlier." He snapped, but not meanly. He snapped at her playfully; suppressing a big grin. "What? Does it make you _uncomfortable_?"

"FUCK YES IT DOES!" her hand clamped over her mouth, she'd lost the bet- oh god…

"I win." He boasted proudly. "And that means you have to skip your date tomorrow and let me paint you any way I want." Sighing, she nodded. Lily knew when to admit defeat, even if that meant posing nude for his paintings.

What surprised her was the fact that he _didn't_ ask her to pose naked. All he did was tell her to sit at the organ, put her fingers on certain keys, and keep the pose. That much she was willing to allow. When she questioned why he didn't want her naked, he simply replied,

"Well, unless you_ want_ to be undressed when I paint you, I'm not going to make you do something like that over a friendly bet." And that she found _very_ sweet; enough to turn her white complexion into a pale pink.

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**This chapter the result of a daytrip from kansas to oklahoma with my family with basically nothing to do but listen to my iPod.**

**...well that, and I was feeling DEVILISHLY evil and wanted to bother Erik and Lily a bit.**


	15. Lily  Victor 2gether 4ever

**Lily + Victor 2gether 4ever**

**Disclaimer:** _I don't own phantom of the opera. But if I did, it would be great. Rated for language and sexual themes/content._

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The next opera was a Dutch opera. It was sung in French, but it originated from the Dutch culture. Instead of their normal tutus, the ballerinas had to wear ugly dresses that made them look like Gretel from the Hansel and Gretel story-in fact- that was what the opera was about.

Lily had to work double-time to catch up to the other ballet girls in knowing the dance. She'd spent so long juggling her time between Erik and Victor that she shirked her responsibilities as a ballet girl. She had to tell Erik that she had to stay after practice and work on her dance, and Victor had been shot down for every date he tried to get from her.

When she told Erik that Victor was boring, she hadn't been lying. No matter what Erik thought. Victor did ask about her, and he did try and entertain her; but the fact was that he was into politics, and political men weren't her type. But she tried to overlook that fact; Victor was a good man, but…

"Lily!" Chimed victor as he entered the ballet room the day of the performance. The other ballet girls were just cleaning up, and Lily was going to stay after a little to work on her steps.

"Hello Victor." Lily nodded in his direction with a smile. "Can I help you?"

"I'd like to take you on a date before the performance tonight. We can go out to any restaurant you like." She hesitated, part of her wanted to go, but the other part didn't. The part that wanted to go wanted to go to the restaurant of her choice; the part that didn't wanted to go to the restaurant of her choice with Erik.

"Oh…um…" She couldn't think of a nice way to tell him she didn't want to go out on a date. "I-I"

"You've rejected nearly every date request I've made thus far, If you reject this one: I'll keep coming back to ask again. I can be very persistent Lily, especially when it comes to getting something I truly want." She swallowed hard, and nodded; agreeing to go on another date with Victor.

Victor took her to the restaurant of her choice, and during the whole date he was asking her of her previous appointments at night, and of late- during the day.

"I was meeting a friend." She replied bluntly before placing a piece of cake on the fork and then in her mouth.

"Why are you so distant?" He asked, Lily paused. She was distant? She hadn't noticed that. Maybe she was spending too much time with her outcast companion that she was becoming an outcast herself. "You don't seem like the type to hide away like you do. You're far too pretty."

"Thank you Victor." She replied smiling. He was so much nicer to her than Erik.

"I got you something." He said to her as he handed her a flat pink box wrapped in light blue silk ribbon. She untied the ribbon and opened the box. Inside was an expensive looking green silk dress, like that of a woman _far_ higher on the French caste system than she. "I hope you like it, I thought Green would go well with your hair color."

"I do like it, thank you." She said as she fingered the ruffled neckline, it was such a beautiful dress, and she could feel a blush creeping onto her face.

The lunch date lasted until after twilight when he took her for a walk through his gardens. It was a beautiful place that Lily loved, the roses were in full bloom, poppies and wildflowers sat around a magnificent fountain in the center, and the peach and apple trees were ripe with their fruit.

Victor had picked an apple for Lily and gave it to her as a gift. When she took a bite, she could honestly say it was the best apple she ever had. It was perfectly ripe, not too ripe, and not under ripe. It was juicy; but not so much that it trickled down her face. It was unfathomable how his gardener could grow such perfect fruit.

He picked a rose and placed it behind her ear with a grin, it brought out her eyes; at least- that was what he thought. Lily was the only woman he knew that could sport red and green so well, and she didn't look like a Christmas plant.

Lily found it almost depressing when she realized that his garden would have to perish come winter. The snow would strip it of its beautiful plants, it would lose all it's luster until it was remodeled in the spring. It was such a beautiful place, and she knew that if she and Victor became anything serious, that was where she would spend most of her time.

The two of them returned to the opera in just enough time for Lily to put her dress away in the dormitories, and hurry to the final dress rehearsal. Madam Giry wasn't cross with her because she was not late, but she was irritated that she had made it by the skin of her teeth.

Claire insisted to know everything that was going on between Lily and Victor, so after practice; while the opera house was filling with patrons, Claire asked Lily to tell her.

"Victor is a sweet man." Lily said to her friend, a blush creeping up her neck. "He gave me a dress today on our date. It's made of very fine silk, far better than what I could ever hope to afford. He took me to his garden today too, and it's the most beautiful place in the world. The apples and peaches were perfectly ripened, and it was…just beautiful."

"So, do you think you two could be anything serious?"

"I don't know. I know he's into politics and all, but somehow that bothers me less. He's been treating me so well lately that I can't help but think so." Claire giggled and hugged her friend.

"I'm _so_ happy for you!"

"Stop sounding as if he proposed." Lily said to her friend playfully, shifting her weight from one leg to the other.

"He probably will soon! And when he does you _must_ be the first to tell me." Lily nodded with a big grin on her face, Victor probably wouldn't propose for a long time, and that gave Lily enough time to weigh the pros and cons of marriage to the young politician who obviously cared for her.

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I hope you enjoyed this chapter! It took me ALL day to write it because I was watching Marie Antoinette on youtube. I (Heart) that movie!**


	16. Color me stupid

**Color me stupid**

**Disclaimer:** _I don't own phantom of the opera. But if I did, it would be great. Rated for language and sexual themes/content._

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Lily winced as she put her feet in a tub of hot water Erik had got for her. Erik sat beside her on the sofa in the den and spoke to her mockingly.

"Well, feet _do_ tend to hurt when you step on step on broken _glass_. The hot water should help keep it from getting infected." He said, getting some bandages ready to wrap her foot in. Lily had done something rather foolish that night that Erik couldn't stop mocking her for. She accidentally knocked over a vase and when she went to clean up the shards of glass, she stepped on a few. He'd gotten most of the glass out of the bottom of her foot, and the rest of the mending had to wait. "What I can't figure out is how someone cuts their foot on glass- while wearing shoes." He patted her head. "It must take a _special_ kind of klutz." She smacked him on the arm as she looked down at her feet in the water.

When Erik got the glass out, they were bleeding a lot. But that was to be expected. And yes- she did manage to, some how, get glass in her foot while _wearing_ her shoes. No one would ever figure out how though, even Lily wasn't too positive.

She watched him stand up from his spot on the sofa to go into the kitchen. When he came back, he had two wine glasses, and two bottles of wine. He set one glass down on the table and filled it with white wine. He gave it to her.

"You're going to want to be drunk when I have to stitch up your foot." Yes- she managed to cut it that deep while wearing her shoes. But then again, they weren't sturdy shoes, they were skinny ballet sippers. Lily took the glass of wine and drank it.

"Aren't you going to have any?" He shook his head.

"Not until your foot is stitched up." She nodded and took another big drink. Even though Erik could be a jerk sometimes, he knew what was best for her. Like that time for example. He knew it would hurt her to have to get stitches in her foot, so he wanted her to be drunk. At least that way she wouldn't remember the pain.

So she drank, and drank, and drank. She drank until she was giggling stupidly and Erik was stitching up her foot. Sure, it hurt; but she wouldn't remember any of it. He had to hold a firm grip on her foot, because in her drunken state, she would flail her foot around. But that wasn't hard; he had a pretty strong grip.

Erik was going to drink with her, but eventually changed his mind. For once, he didn't feel like drinking. He had to keep Lily from doing anything she'd regret later.

Lily sat on his lap, drinking more wine. By the time the second bottle was empty, she was completely smashed, more so than she was before. Erik would admit that she was a fun drunk; she giggled, and made jokes a lot. She was truly shining through to be a ballet girl, and it was obvious to him that she very rarely ever drank; because it didn't take her long to get intoxicated.

"Oh I know!" She giggled, jumping off his lap and picking up one of the wine bottles. "Let's play spin the bottle!"

"There's no one else here to play." Erik told her, but he was thinking about how OK with that he was. He was _very _OK with it.

"Don't kill the fun Erik." She scolded him with a smile. She grabbed his wrist and pulled him to the coffee table, where she sat him down, sat across from him and told him to spin it. He did, and it didn't land on her, thus, it landed on no one. She spun it, and again it landed on no one.

Over and over again they span it, and over and over again it missed them both. It never did land on either one of them. It probably would have eventually, had Lily not started feeling the negative effects of her drinking.

It didn't take her body long to reject the foul substance in her. She had to hurry and limp to the bathroom to vomit. Erik stood outside the bathroom after helping her limp to it, and he waited for her to come out. Eventually though, he went in and held her hair back. He rubbed her back gently as she expelled the gist, and he took responsibility for her sickness, since he was the one who didn't stop her when she was obviously smashed.

They remained in there for at least an hour until Lily said she was fine. Erik nodded, lifted her up off the ground and carried her to the bed, where he made her comfortable. He shouldn't have let her continue to drink, even after her foot was better. At first it was for her own good, but after that he was just selfish.

"You get some sleep." He instructed her, brushing some of her hair out of her face. She wasn't laughing or talking anymore; she just nodded slowly and moved so she could sleep comfortably. Erik sat with her until she was asleep, making sure she was as comfortable as she could be.

He then spent the night in the den, he put the wine glasses in the sink, threw out the empty wine bottles before sitting on the sofa with a book. He was unable to actually read it though, he was too busy thinking.

Lily was a sweet woman, and he'd spent every night for 2/3rds of a year with her. He couldn't help but notice her quirks, her insecurities, her likes her dislikes, even if they spent most of the time arguing or playing head games with the other.

He liked Lily, but it wasn't anything like how he loved Christine. With Lily it was different, he didn't have to pretend to be the angel of music to get her to notice him, in fact- she originally came to see him because she wanted to.

No matter how much he tried to deny it, he was fond of Lily. She was different than most of the ballet girls, she was more wholesome, kind, understanding, clumsy, hot-tempered, open minded, outspoken- but she was still just a ballet rat.

Erik put his book down and laid down to sleep. Lily was just another ballet rat, but…he wanted _that _ballet rat.

When Lily woke up the next morning Erik had to explain everything that happened. That she stepped on glass, and while he was stitching up her foot he gave her alcohol to ease the pain. Everything he said after that didn't bother her at all, not even when he told her it would be best for her to wait down there until her foot healed. That sounded strangely like a good idea.

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XP I almost had some writer's block, but I worked through it. It's unfortunately short though.**


	17. Jokes about Lily

**Jokes about Lily**

**Disclaimer:** _I don't own phantom of the opera. But if I did, it would be great. Rated for language and sexual themes/content._

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During the time Lily spent below with Erik until her foot healed, the two had begun to get along a lot better. Erik wouldn't let her get out of bed or put any pressure on her foot, so he brought her all her meals in bed. Not only that, but because it was getting a lot colder outside (Thus, colder where he lived.) he was able to construct her a warmer sleeping shirt.

One afternoon, as she woke up from a nap she was taking, she saw that beside her sat a brand new book wrapped in a red ribbon. She lifted it up and looked it over. On the bottom of the book under the ribbon was a tiny note. She slid it out and looked it over.

"You said you ruined your other one, so I got you a new one. Erik." She mumbled aloud to herself, turning the book back over to the front and pulled the ribbon off. He bought her a replacement Les miserables book.

As she smiled at her gift, she remembered when she told him that she'd dropped her book in his lake. It was when she was returning from her first date with Victor and Erik wasn't there to take her back by gondola. She didn't think he'd go out and get her another copy though, that much made her smile even wider. Erik could be so sweet when he wanted to be.

Between the first page and the cover was another tiny note:

"Pg. 759". He even wrote down what page she was on last time she read the book. She turned to that page, and sure enough; that was where she left off.

It seemed all too soon when her foot healed, and she was able to walk again. Erik reluctantly had to surrender her to the world where she belonged. He accepted this, but was not happy about it. What caught him off guard was instead of just leaving him when they got to the mirror; she stopped, turned, and hugged him. He stood there dumbly at first, but eventually was able to put his arms around her and hug her back.

But as he held her, he realized he was starting to feel things for her that he shouldn't. He knew the longer she stayed with him, the stronger the feelings he would get. He shouldn't be trying to win her heart; he would be going back on his vow that Christine was the only woman in the world for him. No matter how much he wanted to, he just couldn't.

"Lily" She moved so she could look right into his orb like eyes, they were so hauntingly beautiful that she almost questioned if they were real. They were of course, but she never before saw such beautiful eyes. "I think you can sleep in the dormitories from now on. I think I can trust you won't tell anyone now." He took his arms away, and she felt a fleeting sadness. The whole time she was with him, she wanted to go back to the way things were before she met him. Now that they were going back, she couldn't help but feel hurt.

"You could have just said you didn't want me down here." She snapped, trying to hide the hurt. "You don't have to make up some bullshit excuse." But when he opened his mouth to try and tell her that he didn't mean it like that- she turned away from him and left him alone.

"Smart one." He snapped at himself as he watched her go through the dressing room door, angry and hurt.

Her head wasn't in the ballet during the practice, nor was it there when Victor took her out. All she could think about was Erik, and how when she finally wanted to stay with him; he kicked her out.

Erik had an unnatural ability to know the right way to get under her skin and bother her. But in the same way he was rude, thoughtless and unkind; he was also sweet, seductive and handsome. Despite the left side of his face, which she found just as handsome as the right half.

"Lily?" how could a man be both sensitive and thoughtless at the same time? But then again, how could a man be so divinely and seductively handsome as Erik, even when half of his face is deformed? Those were questions she feared would never be answered, but then again; they were questions that shouldn't have been asked. There was no answer, but the question she truly wanted the answer for was: Why Erik pushed her away right when she was starting to etch her way into his heart? "Lily?"

"Hmm?" She snapped back into reality, and she realized that she and Victor were having dinner again, but this time in a fancier restaurant closer to nighttime.

"You seem distracted." She gave him a small, apologetic smile before poking at her dinner with her fork. Somehow, Victor just didn't inspire what Erik could. When she and Erik were having the War of the Wits, and he was touching her, she had a sense that she never wanted him to stop, but she was all to aware of _why_ he was doing it; and that might have been why she spontaneously told him to stop.

"Sorry"

"Tell me what's wrong." Victor said gently, reaching for her hand and softly brushing his hand along her knuckles. But his doing that only reminded her of how she calmed Erik down when he was upset.

"Nothing Victor" She lied. But as she smiled at him nicely, and tried to carry on a conversation that would allow him to continue to think nothing was wrong; she figured she was pretty lucky Erik kicked her out.

Victor was of high society. Not only would he be able to walk with her into the city without being arrested, but if they had any children together; they would be able to get the best education. She would be a socialite housewife and doting mother to rich children who would never know the hard times. They would automatically be hateful to all those who were different, instead of open and creative.

Lily returned to the opera house late that night, but obviously not late enough. When she got back and cracked the door open in the dormitories slightly, she saw Celia, Gretchen, and Silvia all wearing long, red wigs that resembled her hair style, and they were mocking her.

"That little goodie two shoes makes me sick." Celia spat, but when she looked at herself a little longer in the mirror, she turned to her friends with a big grin. "God damn, that girl is so simple."

"I know!" Chimed Gretchen. "Did you know she's still a virgin?"

"No way!" Celia and Silvia gasped together. Gretchen nodded.

"No man wants in her, she's not a catch."

"What about Victor?" Silvia asked dimly.

"…He's probably using her to get his first wife back." Gretchen said to the other girls. They nodded.

"Yeah, did you know she won't drink? And _one_ cigarette makes her sick! Jesus, what does she think? It'll kill her to have a cigarette?"

"She's like a child." Gretchen giggled. "She won't have sex until she's married; I heard her saying that to Claire once, what does she think this is? The 1770's?"

The girls burst out laughing as Lily backed away from the door and stood out of sight. It was normal for the three tramps to make fun of Lily, but they were so cold about it that time that it almost hurt. They never called her 'plain' before. They called her a freak and a weirdo, but not plain. Lily left the hallway immediately, heading for the ballet room.

She wasn't plain. Was she? Victor always said she was pretty, but she knew that men only want one thing, and they're willing to do whatever they have to do to get that one thing. She knew that, and accepted it. But her problem right then was that she was plain, which could also mean she was homely. But she didn't know for sure.

Lily sat at the piano and played some notes. She knew how to play the piano; she just didn't know how to play the organ. They could be the same basic instrument, but that was how it was with her.

Erik came up behind her, and started talking to her.

"I'm sorry I told you to stay here tonight." Erik began, but Lily ignored him. She hit a few keys as a response. "I just thought that would be what you wanted. She hit a few keys for a response once more. "I heard those three girls making fun of you, and you should know they were wrong. You're not plain." She tapped the keys again. He sat beside her, and began to play one side of the piano. He paused; she looked at him with a dirty look before playing again.

Before they knew it, they were playing a duet. A beautiful tune on the piano Madam Giry played when the ballet girls were doing their exercises. It wasn't long before he got a smile out of her. They played until Lily lost herself in the music, and Erik had to put his hand on her's to get her to stop playing. She smiled, and softly chuckled.

"Pardon my enthusiasm."

"I like your enthusiasm." What surprised her most right then was- Erik was smiling. "If you want to come back with me, you can." He offered, watching her fingers rest on the keys as she considered it. Slowly, she nodded.

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I hope you like this chapter :D The part at the end with the piano was from Corpse Bride. You probably hate me for it**


	18. Truth or Dare

**Truth or Dare**

**Disclaimer:** _I don't own phantom of the opera. But if I did, it would be great. Rated for language and sexual themes/content._

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She became fond of the night. More so than the daytime. Because it was in night that she would be able to see Erik, her handsome captor. The day was like the break in an opera between one act and the next. She did not enjoy it, but she could not escape it. It was necessary, and it had to be suffered through until the lights dimmed, and the chorus began to sing again.

That was what life with Erik was like. Music became part of her, but not a major part. The thing that became a major part of Lily was Erik, and it didn't take him long to realize that he could show Lily he cared. But he was hesitant; he would not show he cared too _much_. He would do just enough to make her swoon a little, but was careful enough to do something to make her a little angry with him.

Lily still went out with Victor on occasion, but her thoughts were not with him. Her thoughts were with the man below the opera, the man who- even if he didn't know it at the time- had enchanted her heart and her mind.

That night he came again, and he took her to a place she considered to be a home. He helped her learn to cook, and he read to her. Part of her wondered if he was feeling what she was starting to feel, was he as enchanted by her as she was with him?

Truthfully, he was. The day she put his Christine memorabilia away was the day she helped him change. Christine's face no longer was there to be compared with Lily's, Christine's nature and voice was shut away in a secret room, and he was able to start fresh. He cared for Lily, but dared not say anything about it. Just as she dared not to take a chance with him, both were afraid of the consequences.

She had her head resting against his shoulder as he read to her a mystery novel. The fire in the hearth was blazing, and his arm was around her, keeping her from falling away. As she listened to his voice, his sweet, soothing voice; she wondered what life would be like with him.

Before, when she pictured life with Victor, she saw herself in the garden. Victor was a politician; he was going to be gone all the time for work, she would have to portray a certain image for his political appearance so that he would win elections. But a life with Erik…

She saw herself not secluded in a garden, but in a warm home. He was at her side, letting her know that nothing was more important than her. Around them were two or three children, all with normal faces. In that vision, she found warmth. Unlike her marriage to Victor, where the flames would die down after a month or two, and eventually she would get cold. But not with Erik, he would keep her warm, she knew that.

She'd been foolish to think before that she and Victor could be happy together. With him, she would be a porcline housewife. There for appearances, but not really used for much. She would be forbidden from entering the kitchen (which could have been a blessing a while back, but Erik had been teaching her how to cook, and she was making great progress.) and she wouldn't even be allowed to nurse her own child. That life was that of a doll that was better kept behind glass.

"Lily?" she directed her eyes up to him, he'd stopped reading, and was watching her. "You seem distracted." He knew her so well, but that was to be expected after spending every night together. What she admired most about him was that he was enough of a gentleman not to take advantage of her. She shook her head.

"No, But I am getting a little tired of reading. What do you say to playing a little game?" He shrugged, why not?

They sat together on the sofa, since that game gave no reason for them to get up and move around. They sat across from each other as Lily explained her game to him.

"It's truth or dare. I suppose you've heard the ballet girls playing it." He nodded; it was actually one of their favorites. It allowed them to humiliate each other without getting into any trouble. "OK, I'll go first. Truth or dare?"

"Truth" Erik said, he had watched the games from afar, and knew that it was best to start out with truth. Lily smiled and asked him the question.

"Have you ever…been with a woman?" He paused, and shook his head. "Never?" He shook his head again, he hadn't ever been with a woman in the sense that Lily meant. "I think that's sweet. Saving yourself for that special girl."

"I actually was waiting for Christine but…" Lily told him that she understood,

"OK, your turn."

"Truth or dare?"

"…Truth" Lily replied, watching him try to think of a question.

"Have you ever been with a man?" He received the same answer he gave. Lily shook her head, and said she wasn't going to until she met some sweet guy who would honestly say he loved her. As silly as she thought it sounded, Erik thought it was very charming and sweet of her to wait until she was loved, unlike most ballet girls (Coughcoughceliacoughcough) who gave themselves to any man with alcohol and no intention to take responsibility for the things they do.

So their game continued. Lily and Erik learned so much about each other that they never knew. What was entertaining was when Erik finally picked Dare.

"I dare you to…" He watched a smile unfold on her face as she leaned over and whispered to him what she wanted him to do. With a grin, he nodded and took her with him so she could see what he had to do.

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Erik stalked into the ballet dormitories with Lily watching from a secret spot. Erik swished over to Celia, lifted her tiny, long hand and rested it in a bowl of warm water. Lily was trying to stifle a laugh as Erik put two rats in Gretchen's ballet slippers, and they both had to keep from laughing as he gave Silvia a make-shift hair cut. He cut most of her hair around her ear off, chopped up her bangs, and ruined her otherwise perfect hair.

When the two were back in the labyrinth, they burst out laughing. Lily had never heard Erik laugh, and it was the most beautiful sound in the world. For a man who very rarely ever laughed, all Lily wanted to do was listen to him. She wanted to hear his laugh, because she knew he was happy. And he was always so unhappy that hearing his happiness was better than anything he could do to her enemies.

He never laughed that hard before in his life. It was nice to laugh; he didn't think he was able to before. But as his laugh settled, and as he and Lily returned to his lair, he couldn't help but watch her smile. She made him so very happy; He really did care for her, almost to the point of being in love with her.

That night as she slept, he found himself sitting in the secret room with all his portraits of Christine. Somehow, looking back on them after trying so hard to forget the subject, they seemed less radiant. They did have as much meaning as they once did. Not after the redhead ballerina with the grace of a drunk elephant became his nightly visitor.

Maybe he should have taken his time with Christine. Maybe he should have stopped to think about what exactly they had in common except beautiful voices. Did they like the same things? Did they have the same views about the important things like Marriage, sex, and everything else? Could they sit up for hours just talking or reading to each other? He didn't think so.

What did he really know about Christine anyway? He didn't know what food she liked, what books or what flowers. He knew Lily's favorite food: cupcakes. Her favorite book was Alice in Wonderland, and her favorite kind of flower was a tulip. He knew what happened when she was a child; he knew that she wasn't anything like Christine. She'd talked to him for hours without his mask on and didn't even hint that it bothered her.

Lily wasn't Christine, he understood that. But he was equally afraid to let himself feel anything for her. If he let himself be vulnerable, he was going to get hurt again. It was like playing with fire, and he was sure to get burned again.

"Erik?" He turned around and saw Lily standing there with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. With the winter came the cold and Lily had to wear a blanket around her shoulders when she wasn't wearing a warm dress. "What are you still doing up?" He looked from her down to the paintings. He was surprised when she placed part of her blanket over his shoulders and put her head on his shoulder. "Do you miss her?"

"No, not anymore." She smiled as he reached around to hold onto the blanket. She was glad he was healing.

"Good, come on, let's get some sleep." He nodded and followed her to the bedroom, That night, instead of sleeping as far away from each other as they could, Lily put her head on his shoulder, her fingers on his chest, and let him rest his head against her's. It was strangely comfortable, and neither one wanted to be the one who disturbed the peace.

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Yeah, it was supposed to be funny, but somehow turned out to be fluffy, ah well! After writing this chapter, I decided that this fic wouldn't be as long as my others. But it'll still be good.**


	19. Victor starts to shine

**Victor starts to shine**

**Disclaimer:** _I don't own phantom of the opera. But if I did, it would be great. Rated for language and sexual themes/content._

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Victor Lane lived with his father in a voluminous mansion. His father had been in the politics career when he was younger, and Victor needed his sage advice if he wanted to run a successful campaign. Politics were the single most important thing to him. Despite what he tells people.

Every morning, Victor wakes up in his bedroom that is too large for one person, and glances around a moment. It takes him two minutes to get up and out of bed, another twenty in the bath, and fifteen more to get dressed.

That day he had a big meeting to go to in hopes of influencing some very important people that he would be right for the position he was running for. It could only enhance his chances if he brought along his beautiful, bubbly ballerina. He had another reason for bringing her though, because he knew what if those important people saw him romancing someone lower on the caste system than him, they would think the system doesn't matter to him.

He sat down at breakfast with his elderly father that morning, talking about his tactic idea. His father loved the idea of him using Lily to get what he wanted, he thought it was a good strategy and he was glad his son was following in his footsteps.

Lily had practice that day, and for one reason or another she refused to go anywhere at night. While at the same time he always mysteriously disappeared from the opera house, never to be seen again until the daytime. So he had to find a way to excuse her from her practice so she could go with him to the meeting. Which actually was more of a potluck, but she needn't make anything, one of his maids already made something that Lily would call her own.

But he couldn't help but wonder where she went during the day that was so important. She never missed that appointment. Every day that he knew her, it was always 'free during the day, can't do anything at night' and he didn't know why. Well, for whatever reason; he knew that would have to change when he asked her to marry him.

He was going to ask that night. The night of the important meeting. If the important people saw him asking a commoner to _marry_ him, which could up his chances to getting the position he so desperately wanted. He was willing to do almost anything to get that position, even if it meant hurting a spirited young lady.

When Lily heard of the important potluck meeting, she didn't really want to go. She finally had some free time during the day to spend with Erik, and she really wanted to use that time to be with him. Not go to some snobby dinner with a bunch of political jerks. But Victor insisted.

"I've got a surprise for you, please come." After a while of trying to persuade her to go, Lily finally agreed and went to put on the green dress he bought her a long time ago. It still fit, but she really wanted to just go be with Erik. She couldn't though, and she accepted that.

The dinner was a snore for Lily. Everything was Politics. Politics. Politics. So, to entertain herself, she resulted to raiding the table of potluck food and talking with some of the boring politic people. She tried to sound interested, but in all actuality she wasn't.

Victor had to make a speech, and she tried to listen. She tried to comprehend and care about what he was saying. Frankly, the food was the most interesting thing there.

"And so I conclude…" Victor droned on. As he spoke, Lily considered the consequences of sneaking out of the dinner early and going to see her Erik. Maybe Erik didn't like her the way she was starting to like him, but even if he didn't, she would still consider him her Erik.

She doubted he liked her all that much though. He still had his memory of Christine, and that hurt. But maybe if she tried to flirt with him a little, he'd see that she liked him a lot, and would be better for him than Christine was. But then again- men could be pretty dense sometimes.

"So last Sunday afternoon, victor was so excited about something in the Politics is Boring times…" Lily chimed at Victor's very important guests. She was trying to make a politics joke, but having known little to nothing about the subject, it proved to be a bit harder than she had initially planned.

Victor moved away from the podium to see Lily laughing with his esteemed guests. But what he didn't know was the fact that they were enjoying the bubbly ballerina's presence. All he could see was that she was ruining his chances of getting the position he truly wanted.

He went to her and grabbed her by the wrist.

"Lily, may I speak to you a moment?" He tried to sound polite. She nodded and he dragged her away from the guests, and when they weren't looking, he snapped her wrist.

"Ow! Victor!"

"Don't you _dare_ mess this dinner up, do you understand?" she nodded, writhing in the pain in her wrist. He smacked her across the face before joining the group of men who he tried to impress, and leaving Lily to sneak out and find her Erik.

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She sobbed on his shoulder, and Erik hugged her. He hugged her and tried to calm her sobbing before he took her to wrap her wrist.

He gently wrapped her wrist in bandages, careful not to hurt her. "I'm sorry if it hurts." Just as he finished saying that, he did accidentally hurt her; she'd winced sharply. "Sorry."

"I-It's OK." She assured him, watching as he carefully set her wrist. As he finished tying it and when he tied it in a knot to keep from unraveling, she whispered, "Don't stop."

"Lily…" He was surprised when she inched foreword and put her mouth over his.

For a moment, he was shocked. But as the kiss lengthened, and as he returned it, Erik found his arms sliding around her, pulling her into deeper submission.

It was the best kiss either of them had ever had. Although it was Lily's first. Erik, as he slid his mouth from her's for a moment, could taste a sensation far beyond what he tasted the night Christine had kissed him. She kissed him so he would let her and Raoul leave, but Lily- she kissed him with only affection in mind.

"…Kiss me Erik…" She mumbled to him, he nodded and put his mouth on her's again, they enjoyed the sweet sensation of their addicting, perfect kiss until it was time to them to cease. From that, they reluctantly pulled away.

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Not exactly what I was planning, but oh well! Enjoy!**


	20. The Return

**The Return**

**Disclaimer:** _I don't own phantom of the opera. But if I did, it would be great. Rated for language and sexual themes/content._

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"Everyone, please come here" Madam Giry called everyone foreword on stage to see a milky skinned, chocolate haired brunette standing in a pretty white gown; smiling at everyone. Her lips were thin, but everyone knew who she was. Carlotta was screaming in rage after she saw who it was, knowing what that meant for her. "Most of you remember Christine from the fire; she's back to resume her work."

"Actually," Christine corrected once Madam Giry had stopped speaking. "I came back to be a chorus girl again, I don't think I could stand the lead." Lily bit her lower lip, and hoped to god that Erik wasn't going to come out and see Christine from one of his many hiding spots. She knew it would hurt him to see her again, because even though he and Lily had been growing closer and closer with each visit and had lately begun to kiss each other, he was not over her yet. She was worried about him, and wouldn't let Christine think she could just waltz back into his life like nothing ever happened. She'd protect him, because she loved him.

"Christine, all of Paris has heard you sing, they'll demand you resume the lead." M. Webber tried to convince her along side M. Leroux and Madam Giry. "Please, the ghost is gone; you can step back into the lime light."

"I could, but I won't." She argued, Lily saw though that she was only arguing because she knew that they'd want her to resume the lead bad enough to try and offer her a lot. She may not look like a vain woman, but Lily knew she was.

Erik saw Christine had returned, and he felt his heart irk forward. No matter how much he began to like Lily, and no matter how good it felt now that he and Lily had begun to kiss each other, and mostly spend their nights doing that now; he wanted Christine again. He was an addict, and he was one encounter away from being drawn back. He'd had that encounter, and he was drawn back just as he predicted.

As bad as he felt for suddenly forgetting Lily; his heart ached for Christine. He didn't even give a second thought about what would happen to his relationship with the clumsy redhead, all he could think about was how he wanted the graceful brunette.

Christine had agreed to take the lead again, just as Lily had figured. She'd gotten her old dressing room back, had gotten a higher salary, and was automatically—without auditions—the lead singer. Her sudden return pissed Lily off, but not because she just picked up where she left off. She pissed Lily off because she had made so much progress with Erik that she had a feeling he'd welcome her back with open arms. He wouldn't consider how much she'd hurt him, nor would he consider the fact that he knew Lily so much better than he knew Christine.

No, Erik was still a man and all men followed their dicks, not their hearts.

Swallowing a sigh, she walked to Christine's dressing room and sneaked through the mirror in just enough time to see Christine walk in once she was safely behind it. Quickly running to where she knew Erik would be, and there he was. He made it look as if he hadn't seen Christine, and as if he was glad to see Lily again. The second one wasn't hard, he did care about Lily.

She ran to him and crashed her mouth on his. She wanted him to feel it; she wanted him to feel that she cared about him, that she loved him. She slid her mouth from his, and saw that he felt _something_, but the thing was that she didn't know if it was love for her, or something else entirely. She didn't know, but she saw conflict in him.

_God please…_ she internally pleaded. _Make him love me; make him see it before she comes…_

"Erik?" Lily and Erik turned their heads towards the shore, and saw a soaked Christine standing there, surprise in her face. "I'm sorry if I'm interrupting."

"Christine…" Erik breathed, as if he hadn't seen her earlier.

"I didn't expect to see anyone else down here," She had a look of longing in her eyes, Lily could see it; but she wouldn't give up Erik so quickly. She wouldn't leave so she could hurt him again, no. Not her Erik.

"Oh, um, yeah," His words stumbled out like Lily onto stage. "This is Lily, she's a friend of mine…"

"I saw you today!" Christine greeted her with a huge grin. Lily thought she looked like the stupidest woman in the world—and she'd spent years with Celia, Gretchen, and Silvia. That was really saying something since—to her—Christine looked stupider than the trio of tramps. "You're a chorus girl."

"That's Right," Lily replied in a friendly, sarcastic voice. "And you're that famous Christine everyone can't stop talking about." Oh how she loathed pretending to be nice to the woman, but she had to; Maybe Erik was man enough to stick with Lily after all they'd been through together? "I'm so-o glad you came back."

"Me too, maybe you and I could be good friends" She sounded so optimistic and naïve about being friends with her rival for Erik's affections. Erik didn't know two girls were fighting over him, but if he did- he'd be grinning like an idiot.

"Maybe,"

So Christine joined Erik and Lily in a night of chattering and acting as if they were friends. Lily saw it in Erik's eyes, the look of longing when he looked at Christine, and the way it faded when he gave Lily his attention. It wrenched at her heart, making it bleed. She knew he wanted Christine, more than he ever wanted Lily.

"Excuse me" Lily finally said, feeling the wrenching pain in her body become too unbearable. It wouldn't allow her to stay and monitor Christine and Erik's interactions. She was excused by Erik and Christine, both seeming happy she had to leave them alone.

She went into the bathroom and leaned over the toilet as if she was vomiting, and sobbed. Cries climbed up her throat, she knew he wanted Christine, not her. She was probably overreacting, but all she wanted to do was fold over on the floor and cry in her knees. Her arms wrapped around her waist, she crumbled to the ground and cried. She never thought she'd cry like that over Erik, over him finally being happy.

Lily knew she had to stand up and take it like a man. She had to look upon Erik and realize that he wanted Christine, not her. She had to take it, she had to accept it, and she had to get over it. But right then, all she wanted to do was cry. Cry because she lost a man she loved, cry because it was her first heartbreak, and cry because she knew she wouldn't be happy with anyone but her masked man. No, he wasn't her masked man anymore, he was Christine's Angel.

Her head shot up when the door opened, and she tried to hide her cries from Erik as he stood over her. He closed the door and fell down to her height.

"Lily, what's wrong?" He put his hands on her shoulders, he had soft hands, and she liked that in a man. The feel of his soft hands caused her to lurch forward and try to swallow her own smothering cries. He pulled her close to him, held her a minute, and then brushed some hair out of her eyes. "Calm down Lily, tell me what's wrong."

"Go away Erik," She icily spat at him. "I know what you want, I saw it. You want her again. I-I thought that you and me…but no…you wanted her." She cried; the words just kept coming out, no matter how much she wanted to stop them. "I'll leave soon so you can have her all you want. I don't need you Erik." But she was caught off guard when his mouth brushed against her's softly, and his hand brushed off her shoulder and onto her arm. She pulled her mouth away and looked from him.

"Look at me Lily," He pulled her back to him. "Listen, Christine made her choice a long, long time ago. She told me she just wants to make amends for what happened. I don't know exactly what you claim to have seen, but believe me when I say it's not true." She saw a smile tug at his mouth; he was smiling because he knew it was what would make Lily happy. She nearly melted; he looked so sexy when he smiled. "Believe me; I know you have other options in men, you have all of the men in the world. But I want you here; you're the only woman who I want down here with me now." She wanted to believe him, but she just didn't. "Trust me, Christine and I are over, we were over that night she left me, and we will still be over even if she wants to come back." His mouth brushed against Lily's again, that time; she wasn't so quick to take it away. She was starting to let herself believe him, somehow—she felt it was better to live in a naïve dream world. Unaware to the pain that reality was going to bring. "Do you believe me?" She nodded, and felt him hug onto her. "Good, now, dry your eyes. You've nothing to worry about you know, Christine has done little to nothing for me. I've no reason to go back to that." She nodded again, brought up her strength and smiled at him. He smiled back, kissed her one more time before leaving her to dry her eyes.

**

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Note: I've nothing against Christine personally (OK, I do) and this in no way is me spiting her, but I thought she'd be an interesting obstacle. Sorry it took me so long to update. LONG story.**


	21. Diary of Lily

**Diary of Lily**

**Disclaimer:** _I don't own phantom of the opera. But if I did, it would be great. Rated for language and sexual themes/content._

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Ever Since Christine's return, Lily has felt nothing but sadness. Erik had tried to make it clear to her that he was over Christine…that he wasn't going to go back to someone who caused him so much pain. She didn't believe him, most of her knew she'd lose him, Christine was everything she wasn't. She was graceful, pretty, better built, articulate, Hell—she was even a better ballet girl than Lily. She couldn't see a reason Erik wouldn't go back.

Lily was in the dormitories when she found a small, leather bound book pressed against her mattrace and the metal bars holding it up. She took it out and looked at it. She knew what it was, it was what she needed right then.

She found a quill and an ink well, and too everything to the Chapel in the opera house. She sat down beside the window and wrote in it.

_As much as I want to believe Erik when he says he won't go back to Christine, I very much doubt he will live up to what he says. How do you tell someone that you don't believe them, when they try so hard to make you believe them? Especially when they've done nothing to make you think otherwise, other than a look of longing for the other woman._

_I guess I could believe him, if he and I are to be together, I have to trust him. I hate using that old 'I trust you, It's her I don't trust' line, but that's just it. I trust him, but I don't trust Christine. The thing is—she and I are both women, so I know that if she wants Erik, she will use psychological warfare to get him._

_Am I willing to fight? I mean—it's not like we're in love or anything. Erik loved Christine, and he still does. I know it; he can't hide the fact from me. Not Me, the woman that has been there for him for a little over a year now, I've been the one holding him when he cried, I've been the one who has been telling him over and over that she gave up one hell of a guy, and I've been the one singing him to sleep when he has restless nights. She's done nothing but hurt him._

_How can a man as smart as Erik be so dim-witted? How can he not see that Christine hasn't done a thing for him, and I've done everything? I've taken care of him, I've learned from him, and I listen to him. _

_I've got choices too, I hope he knows. I can leave him and to go Victor any time I damn well please. I won't let Erik string me along like a fucking dog on a leash, I'm more than that, and I'm not simple like Christine. She gave him up, how could he be so quick as to take her back?_

_He told me not to worry. He says "Christine made her choice, and I've made mine, you know that." But I know he still has feelings for her. _

_My body hurts diary, I have to keep my hand steady to write legibly, how can it be possible to hurt so much? All the crying I've been doing lately has been causing my throat to hurt. I've been coughing more, and I'm afraid I've come down with a sickness. I went to the doctor, and he told me that if I'd stop crying I'd get better. But I can't stop, not with the pain in my heart. My body is always shaking, and it's always hurting. I always feel cold, and it feels like something's missing in me, as if I'd heaved up an organ of mine and I misplaced it. Is this what a broken heart feels like?_

_I've never had to go through his before. No man has ever looked my way the way Erik has. No man has ever sat me down and talked to me, and I've never felt so close to a man before. Erik is mine, not Christine's, and not anyone else's. MINE. It seems simple to me, maybe even possessive of me to call someone—who loves someone else—mine. He's not mine, I've never claimed him, and my name isn't written on him. I'm not wearing his ring and I'm not his. _

_I'm doing it again; I'm talking myself into crying. I'm so worried, what if he does chose her? Hell, if I was him—I would. What reason does he have to choose otherwise? Christine's perfect. Stupid—but perfect._

_No, she's not perfect. She's submissive. She'll do anything and everything he says because he can sing her into a trance; she's hypnotized by him, not in love with him. _

_All I want to do is cry, even if I don't know if I have a reason. I feel so stupid, crying over something and I don't know what it is. Maybe in that way Erik and I are perfectly matched, I can't cry in front of him without being asked why, and admitting that I feel my heart breaking isn't something I want to do, but admitting that I don't know why is something I don't want to do either. I try and swallow a cry every time I feel it coming, when I can't, I go into the bathroom and run some bath water. That controls what he does and doesn't hear until I can collect myself again._

_I have to stop this; I have to believe him when he says he doesn't love Christine. I have to…but can I? I don't know right now, I guess I'll have to write again if anything else happens._

Lily closed the book and looked up. She was alone, she had to close her eyes and release a sigh. It felt good to write in her diary, it made her feel like she could talk to someone- anyone. She'd actually started writing in it around Christmas time, when Erik had gotten it for her as a present. She got him some personalized score books, and he got her the diary she held so close.

She couldn't cry, not anymore. She had to be a big girl so-to-speak. She was an adult, and she couldn't go sobbing over every little thing like a teenager. She liked to think that everything was OK. That Erik loved her too but was too shy to admit it. That they'd get together eventually and someday have a family together. But she couldn't hope for it, because deep in her knew that he'd choose Christine. Everyone loved little Miss Daae.

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Sorry for it being so short, but that was the PERFECT place to end it. If I'd have kept going it wouldn't be a good ending. So it's a short chapter.**


	22. Cloud Nine

**Cloud Nine**

**Disclaimer:** _I don't own phantom of the opera. But if I did, it would be great. Rated for language and sexual themes/content._

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Erik had his mouth on Lily's, and they'd been sitting in the study and kissing for a long time. Erik liked that, he liked to light the fire place, sit with Lily, and kiss her until she wanted him to stop. He didn't know if he could give up that kind of free expression of romance. He wanted her to realize for good that he loved her, not Christine. He wanted to prove it to himself too, because he wanted Christine back too. He knew that he couldn't string Lily along, especially after the way Christine had strung him along when she had Raoul. He knew how it felt, and he didn't want to be the one hurting her.

Lily—she was just living in the faux reality that Erik really did care about her more than he did Christine. As long as she had him she'd be happy, until he finally ended it with her. She'd let him go gracefully, she wouldn't frantically try to keep him with her. If he didn't want to be with her, she knew she should let him go. Not like the way he frantically tried to hold onto Christine, she'd let go.

He was so very confused. He did care about Lily, more than anyone. But he wanted to be with Christine. Couldn't he have one woman to have, and one woman to hold? No, that was stupid and unlike him. He wanted just one woman to have _and_ to hold. It had to either be Lily or Christine, he wouldn't want both. How could he even be thinking the way he was? Lily had been there all the while for him. She'd done everything she could to make him smile, and Christine had done nothing but take his smile away.

Lily had been there to wipe his eyes when he cried, to assure him that the pain would subside and he could make another woman very happy, and she was there to cook for him, even if it was a terribly nasty tasting attempt. She _tried_ to make him happy at least, while Christine had just up and left. She'd given him the worst heartbreak in the world, and Lily had picked up the pieces of his broken heart. She tried to do her best to give him back his heart, to make him believe in love and in everything. How could he be conflicted about keeping her or Christine?

Most of all, Lily had seen his face and had acted as if it were nothing at all. She didn't gasp in horror, she didn't run away, and she didn't put the mask back on his face once she'd seen it. She saw it, and continued to look at it. It didn't bother her a bit, and that he still was unable to understand.

Reluctantly, she pulled her mouth away from his, and gave him a sad look.

"We've got to go; I've got a show tonight."

"You can't miss?" Erik asked softly, pushing some of her hair behind her ear. He loved her bloody hair; it was like her head was bleeding terribly. She shook her head.

"Madam Giry would get angry with me if I did." Erik nodded and took her small hand in his.

"Alright, let's go."

As he took her back, he saw her smiling at him. He really wanted her to miss that night so he could keep her longer. He wanted to keep her with him, because after he'd considered it a bit more, Lily was the only woman who actually cried over the prospect of losing him. And they were tears of sadness, not of joy. She cared enough about him to cry over losing him; she wanted him to stay her's. And he was glad to fulfill her want.

He walked her to the window, her hand entwining with his. At the window, she fell into his arms and kissed him goodbye. Not only had she been there for him when Christine wasn't, she was the only woman who kissed him with affection in mind, not to free her lover. She didn't leave right after she kissed him; she stayed and allowed him to kiss her back.

"I'll be watching," He said softly, receiving a smile from her as a reward.

"Make sure it's me you're watching." And she left. He knew what she meant; it kind of irritated him a little when she made it clear that she still thought he loved Christine. But somehow, he couldn't say she was wrong. A lot of him still loved her and wanted her back.

Lily danced fiercely along with the other girls. It was a dance that required all of them to dance with force and strength. She was the only one who _didn't_ fall, and that was surprising to everyone involved.

Erik watched in surprise, Lily was actually dancing with some grace. But his eyes, they wandered over to Christine in front, singing the lead with the voice he'd created in her. If it wasn't for him, she'd be in the back with Lily dancing in the shadows. Like she'd been before her debut in Hannibal. He wanted her so much, but all the logic was with Lily. Oh what was he to do? Was he to go with elegance, or sweet and down to earth?

He met up with Lily after the performance. She hadn't noticed that he shifted his gaze between her and Christine at the performance, and was glad to go back with him to his lair and kiss him some more.

Once there, Erik was glad to let his romantic side come out. He lit the fire in the fire place, got them two glasses of wine, and kissed her until she got tired and wanted to sleep. Though sex hadn't come up, he was just happy to have her with him. He'd wait until she was ready to have sex—even if that meant waiting until time ran out. He'd wait forever and a day.

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Again, sorry it's short. But again—another perfect ending! The next one will be longer; I didn't want to get my idea up and running just yet.**


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